


Will Graham and Kindergarten Adventures

by the_proud_mousedeer



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hannibal still hates rude people, Kid Will, Kids, Kindergarten AU, M/M, Murder Family, Other, Will has a plushie deer named Wendigo, but he likes Will, childhood crushes, kid!Hannibal, will is clueless
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-05-10 12:24:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5585260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_proud_mousedeer/pseuds/the_proud_mousedeer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hannigram kindergarten AU. Will and his family move to a new house, and he starts going to a new kindergarten. That's where he meets his best friends, and of course Hannibal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Day

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea came to me randomly at school, and I decided to write it. My first English Hannibal fanfiction. I hope you like it :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Hannibal

Little Will has always been afraid of changes. He didn't like it when something changed in his life, and he had to learn to cope with new things. That's why he was very sad when he found out that he and his parents were moving to a new house for the second time, and he had to go to an absolutely new, unfamiliar kindergarten. In his old one, he got used to the children, and the children got used to him. And in this new one, he will most likely sit in the corner alone and make up stories about imaginary worlds.

***

The new house didn't turn out as horrible as Will had expected. It was nice and tidy. He even had his own bedroom here, with a large toy box and a bunk bed.

Will was unpacking his toys and putting them into the toy box when his mum came in.

"I have good news for you, Will," she smiled.

"What are they?" Will asked, grabbing his favourite toy, a large stuffed deer named Wendigo, from the box.

"You got accepted to the local kindergarten!" mum said happily. "Tomorrow is your first day."

"Tomorrow?!" Will asked, horrified. He hugged his deer tightly.

"Don't be scared, you will get used to it soon. And the kids there are really friendly. One of the girls - Alana, I think, - said that she would really like to meet you."

"I hope so," Will sighed.

"Don't worry, Will," mum said, coming closer to the boy and hugging him. "Everything will be alright. And on the weekend, we will order pizza and go to the amusement park. Okay?"

Will nodded. But he was still worried.

***

The next morning, mum took Will to his new kindergarten. They entered a large room, full of light and happy, joyful children.

A tall, fat black man came up to Will and his mum.

"Good morning," mum said to the man.

"Morning," he replied. "And are you new here?" he asked Will.

"Will, this is your new teacher, Mr Crawford," mum said to Will. "And Mr Crawford, this is Will Graham."

"Nice to meet you, Will," Crawford smiled. "I'm sure he will get to know everyone soon. You don't need to worry about him."

Mum gently ruffled Will's hair for goodbye and left. The boy felt scared in an unfamiliar room full of strangers. It seemed that he suddenly became even smaller than he was.

"Don't be afraid, Will. You can call me Jack, all kids here call me that," Crawford smiled. "Come on, let's go."

Jack led Will to the indoor playground, where most children were playing at the moment.

Immediately, an Asian girl with ruffled black hair ran up to them.

"Hi! Are you in our class now?" she asked Will.

"Yes," Will nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Will. And yours?"

"Beverly. Let's be friends!" the girl grinned, offering her hand to him.

"Okay," Will murmured, taking her hand. He didn't have time to say another word as Beverly pulled him after her, to one of the corners of the playground. Two boys were sitting there, playing with toy cars.

"Will, these are Brian and Jimmy, they are my friends," Beverly said, pointing at them. "Hey, you two!"

The boys raised their heads and looked at Will.

"Oh, hi there!" said one of them. He was taller than the other, and had curly hair.

"What's your name?" said the other one, small with shоrt hair.

"Will," said Will.

"I'm Jimmy, and this is Brian," said the second boy. "Let's play together!"

Will smiled and nodded. He and Beverly sat down on the carpet.

"Will, do you like to play with toy cars?" Brian asked.

"Yes," Will grinned.

"Great!" Brian said. "Beverly, show him your car. The one which goes very far forward, remember?"

By the game, the time passed quickly. Soon, Jack called them for breakfast. Will sat at the same table as Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. He suddenly realized that he was very hungry. Will ate his omelette very quickly.

"Can you tell me who else is in the class? I don't know anyone here, except for you three," he said.

"Oh, we have a lot of people here!" Beverly smiled. "Abigail is the youngest. Over there, there are Francis and Reba. And at thaaat table you can see Frederick. He is so annoying."

"And next to Abigail, it's Freddie. She really likes to take photos," Jimmy added.

"And who is at the table over there?" Will asked, pointing at the table in the middle. There were three children there - a very tidy boy with neatly combed hair and two girls.

"Oh my god! How come we forgot about them?" Brian slapped his forehead. "Hannibal, Bedelia and Alana. They are very smart."

"Everyone wants to be their friend," Beverly added.

Will looked over at them. At the moment, Hannibal was eagerly talking to Bedelia and Alana. Suddenly, somehow realizing that Will was looking at him, he raised his head and smiled warmly at Will. Will smiled back.

***

After breakfast, Jack said that they are going to have an art class.

"Oh, no! I'm so bad at art," Will sighed.

"You are probably not _that_ bad," Brian said to him.

"Hannibal is the best at drawing, you can ask him to teach you," Beverly suggested, passing paint and brushes to Will.

"I don't think he will want to be my friend," Will shook his head. In his old kindergarten, the popular boys never wanted to be friends with Will. They laughed at him, pulled his hair and took his toys away from him.

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite, you know," Jimmy laughed.

Will shrugged and went to the bathroom to get water for brushes. He filled his cup and turned to go back to the classroom. But suddenly, he tripped on the wet floor.

"Ouch!" Will fell to the floor. The cup flew away from his hands, and the water splashed everywhere.

One of the children nearby laughed loudly. Will shut his eyes, holding back tears. Why did he have to fall?!

"Stop laughing, Freddie! Can't you see that he is hurt?" shouted one of the boys. Will heard the sound of footsteps coming closer to him. He raised his head and saw that Hannibal was standing nearby. Apparently, he was the person who stuck up for Will.

Hannibal gave Will his hand. Will took it, and the boy easily pulled him to his feet.

"Are you hurt?" Hannibal asked with concern.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you," Will said.

"Let's be friends! My name is Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter. And yours is?..."

"Will... Graham," said Will shyly.

"It's nice to meet you," the boy smiled. "Do you like to draw?"

"Yes, but I'm not good at it," Will said.

"Come and sit with us! I will teach you," Hannibal offered.

Will shot a confused look at Beverly, who was standing by the wall. She nodded eagerly.

"Okay," Will smiled.

***

In a few minutes, Will was sitting at the table with Hannibal, Bedelia and Alana.

Today, their task was to draw something related to autumn. Will reached for the largest brush he could see on the table.

"It's better to choose a smaller brush. Smaller brushes are easier to draw with," Hannibal suggested.

"But you can colour quicker with a bigger one!" Will objected.

"Speed is not important in art. But we can draw a picture together, if you like," Hannibal said.

They took a large sheet of paper and started to work together. Firstly, Hannibal carefully drew a contour of a tree and the leaves. Then Will took a large brush and coloured the tree. He used a lot of colours: yellow, orange, green and red were all mixed there. When the paint dried a bit, Hannibal traced the leaves one by one, and soon their painting was finished. 

"Can I have a look?" said one of the girls. She had dark hair and wore a T-shirt with flowers on it.

"Sure," Will passed the drawing to the girl.

"Oh, that's so cool!" she said, looking at the painted tree with awe. "Bedelia, would you like to see it?"

She turned the drawing around, so the other girl, a blonde in a blue dress, could have a look at it.

"Are you Alana?" Will asked, turning to face the dark-haired girl.

"Yes, I am. And you are new here, right? What's your name?"

"Will."

"Do you like to read, Will? And can you read?"

"Yes to both," Will smiled.

"That's so cool! Me too. I love books about nature," Alana grinned.

Soon Will got to know Bedelia, too. She wasn't very talkative, and she loved to ice-skate. And Hannibal, as it turned out, wasn't only good at drawing. He also learned to play music.

"And what do you like to do, Will?" Hannibal asked.

"Um... I don't know. I like Legos, and cars, and fishing, and making up stories..."

They talked and talked, until the class was over and it was time to go outside.

***

Outside, it was warm and sunny. It was autumn, and bright yellow leaves slowly fell to the ground. Near the fence, they lied in a huge pile.

When Beverly stepped out of the kindergarten door, she ran straight to the pile and jumped into it. The leaves went in all directions.

"Are you okay?" Will asked, running up to her.

"Of course! The leaves are soft!" Beverly laughed. "Also, I bet I can run faster than you! Run!" she yelled, jumping from the pile and making a scary face.

Will ran away from Beverly as fast as he could. She ran after him, laughing. But it seemed that Will was faster than the girl. She couldn't catch him, no matter how hard she tried.

"Phewww... but Francis would definitely catch you!" Beverly sighed, stopping and catching her breath. "He is the fastest runner..."

Brian and Jimmy ran up to Will and Beverly.

"There you are!" Brian said.

"Hey, let's play hide-and-seek!" Jimmy suggested. "Are you with us, Will?"

"Sure!" Will grinned.

"Let's call for more people, so it's more fun to play," Beverly said. She folded her hands and put them next to her mouth like a megaphone. "HEY! WHO WANTS TO PLAY HIDE AND SEEK?!"

Soon, Hannibal, Bedelia, Alana, Abigail and Frederick joined them. They started to play.

Will was very good at hide-and-seek. He found everyone quickly. Soon, Hannibal was the only one left. The outside play time was almost up, and still Will couldn't find him.

"Hannibal, where are you? Come out!" Will shouted.

Suddenly, the was a ruffle behind him, and somebody covered his eyes with hands.

"Guess who?" the person laughed.

Will turned around, and saw a very happy Hannibal. It turned out that he was hiding in a bush, waiting for Will to come near.

"I always do that," Hannibal said, grinning.

***

After lunch, it was nap time. Will changed into his deer pajamas, got into bed and fell asleep quickly.

When he woke up, he accidentally put his hand under his pillow. To his surprise, he found a candy bar there.

"Whoa, what have you got there?" Brian asked, coming up to Will.

"It's a candy bar. But I don't know how it got there."

"There are two ways that could happen. One: somebody put it there a long time ago and forgot about it. Two: somebody put it there on purpose."

"But what for?" Will said in surprise. He opened the candy bar and broke it in half, giving some to Brian.

"No idea," he shrugged, putting it in his mouth. "Maybe they want to give you some candy, but are too shy."

Will decided that it was probably an accident. Why would anyone want to give him candy?

***

When Will's mum came to pick him up, she was afraid that she will see him in a far-away corner, sad and alone. She was very relieved to see him playing happily with other children.

"Will, it's time to go home!" mum called to him.

"Oh, are you leaving already?" Beverly asked.

"I think, yes. See you tomorrow!" Will smiled, standing up to go.

"Bye, Will!" shouted Beverly, Jimmy and Brian.

"Bye," said Will, going to the door.

***

Will was walking home with his mum.

"Did you like it in the kindergarten?" mum asked him.

"Yes!" Will said happily.

Maybe, it's a good thing they moved to a new house.


	2. The Amusement Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :) Sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, I forgot to save it and accidentally it got deleted >( . But now it's finished. I hope you like it :)

On Sunday, Will woke up early in the morning. He laid on the top bunk of his bed and thought about many things.

His first week in the kindergarten went really well. Will spent a lot of time playing with Beverly, Brian and Jimmy, and reading books with Alana. He also talked with Hannibal several times. Will thought that Hannibal was quite different from other kids. He talked almost like an adult, using difficult words and long phrases. Hannibal was also respectful to everyone, and never bullied or put anyone down.

Every day after nap time Will found a piece of candy under his pillow. And each time, it was a different candy. Will usually ate the sweet treat, or shared it with his friends, and kept the wrapping to himself.

He told Beverly and Jimmy about this, and now they and Brian were helping Will to find out who left sweets under his pillow.

Will climbed out of his bed and stepped to the floor. He went to his desk, opened a drawer and took five candy wrappings out of it. Two lollipops, two candy bars and one piece of jelly. The boy put the wrappings on the desk in a row. He kept changing their order and turned them this way and that, like the wrappings could tell him something about his secret candy giver.

Suddenly, Will heard footsteps. Leaving the riddle unsolved, the boy quickly put the wrappings back into the drawer and closed it.

"Hi, Will!" mum said, entering the room. "Oh, you are up already, aren't you? Hurry up, we are going to the amusement park!"

"Yay!" Will shouted happily. He ran to the chest drawer to get his clothes.

"But don't forget to have breakfast first," mum reminded him.

Will sighed and went to the dining room.

***

It was still early, and there wasn't a lot of people in the park. But soon it will be full: a lot of children wanted to visit all of their favourite rides before winter comes.

Will looked all around, him, amazed. The park was so cool! All of his favourite rides were here: swings, and merry-go-rounds, and roller coasters, and a huge Ferris wheel! Donuts, juice and ice cream were sold in colourful little shops. Different contests were held in striped tents. You could win toys and sweets there!

"Let's buy a kids' ticket for you," mum suggested. "Then you can go to all the rides, and buy some ice cream."

"Alright," Will smiled. Under one of his arms, he was carrying Wendigo, his toy deer which he took with him today.

Mum bought the ticket for Will, and he started to think where he will go first. He went to a large Merry-go-round when suddenly, he spotted a familiar face.

No one other than Hannibal Lecter was walking down the park. He was tidy and well-dressed as always, like he was going to a theater with adults and not an amusement park. Next to Hannibal, there were a man and a woman, just as well-dressed as him. Will assumed they were his parents. The man was pushing a large baby carriage in front of himself.

Hannibal spotted Will and waved his hand at him.

"Will! Come here!"

Will ran up to the Lecter family.

"Hi, Hannibal," he smiled.

"Hello, Will," Hannibal smiled back. "Meet my parents. Mum, dad, this is Will. He is my friend from kindergarten."

"Nice to meet you, Will," Mrs Lecter said. "Have you been friends with Hannibal for a long time?"

"No, we just met several days ago," Will answered. He was worried that Hannibal's parents will think badly of him. He was wearing his old Transformers t-shirt and well-worn shorts, and he forgot to brush his hair as usual. Actually, Will looked a complete opposite to Hannibal. However, Mr and Mrs Lecter didn't seem to mind. 

"Well, why don't you two get to know each other? Go to the rides together, get some ice cream," Mr Lecter suggested. "And we can stay and look after Mischa."

Will was very happy with this offer. And Hannibal looked simply overjoyed.

"Alright," Will nodded "You can talk with my mum if you want. She is on that bench over there."

Mr and Mrs Lecter left, and Hannibal and Will were left to themselves.

"Where would you like to go?" Hannibal asked.

"Let's go to this huge Merry-go-round!" Will said.

The boys ran to the ride.

"Who is Mischa?" Will wondered while they were waiting in the queue.

"My younger sister," Hannibal answered. "She is very little, she can't even walk yet. But she is smart, she will learn it soon. She is sleeping in the carriage right now. And do you have a sister, or a brother?"

"No," Will shook his head.

***

After Merry-go-round, Will and Hannibal went to the swing, and roller coasters. Will loved water coasters most of all. Firstly you quickly go down, and then water splashes all over. Awesome!

Will shook his head, and water in his hair went in all directions. 

"That's so cool, right?" 

"Yes, but I think my clothes are wet now," Hannibal said worriedly. Will looked at him. It seemed that he got splashed by even more water than Will. His shirt was sticking to him, and water was dripping from his now messy light hair. Will laughed.

"Don't worry, it's warm today. You will be dry again soon."

After water coaster, Hannibal suggested the Ferris wheel.

"I went there several times. When you are on the top, everything down here looks so small! And it's very beautiful," he said.

"Do you think they will let us go without adults?" Will asked. He didn't like to admit it, but he was quite afraid of heights.

"Of course they will! The Ferris wheel is included in the ticket. And it's not scary at all," Hannibal said.

Will wondered whether Hannibal could read minds.

"I am not _scared_ ," Will said, offended. He didn't want Hannibal to think that he was afraid. No way!

Hannibal smiled.

"You know what, Will? My father always says that a brave person is not a person who is not afraid of anything. A brave person just knows how to fight their fear. Let's go!"

"I'm not _afraid_ , I said that already," Will muttered, but followed Hannibal still.

They climbed into an empty cabin, and up it went.

Will looked down and shut his eyes tightly. The ground was so far away! And they just only took off! 

"Don't be afraid, you are not alone," Hannibal carefully took Will's hand and squeezed it gently to comfort him. "Open your eyes, look at how beautiful everything is!"

Will carefully opened one eye and took a peek down. He felt safer holding Hannibal's hand, and decided to give it a try.

The city looked like Google Maps! Will could see the small green park near his home, and a large shopping center, and a pond where he and his dad fed ducks yesterday. The boy opened his eyes wide, taking the amazing sight in.

"Hannibal, look! There is our kindergarten! And over there, it's a pet shop! It's beautiful, you can see _everything_ from here!"

Hannibal simply smiled.

"Can you see your house from here?" Will asked.

"Yes. It's there" Hannibal pointed at a large house near the pond.

"Wow, that's a big house!" Will said. "And my house is near that green park."

Will's fear was all gone by now, and he was quite sad when the cabin came back to the ground and it was time to leave it.

"Can we go again?" Will asked, making a sad face. He stuck his bottom lip out and looked at Hannibal with his best puppy eyes. He always did that when he really wanted something.

Hannibal laughed.

"What's so funny?" Will frowned.

"You look like the cat from "Shrek". You make the same face, and you are just as cute."

Will snorted.

"Of course, we can go to the wheel again, but I think we need to pay money," Hannibal said.

"Oh, OK," Will sighed.

"I will go get more!" Hannibal offered.

He turned to go to the benches, but suddenly Will realized that something very bad had happened. Something horrible!

"Hannibal," he breathed out. "I lost Wendigo!"

"Wendigo? Who is it?" Hannibal asked.

"It's my stuffed deer," Will muttered. He was trying hard to remember where he could have left the toy. When they went to the Ferris wheel, Wendigo was not with him already. But it could be everywhere! Roller coasters, swings, Merry-go-round... maybe, he simply dropped Wendigo while running around with Hannibal? What if he never sees his deer again?!

"Don't worry, it's OK," Hannibal said, returning back to Will. "Let's go and look for him in the park."

The boys walked all over the park. They searched in every corner (Will even took a peek under the benches), but the deer was nowhere to be found. Will was close to tears by now. Wendigo has been his favourite toy! Grandma gave it to Will last Christmas, and it has barely left his side since then.

Hannibal noticed how sad Will was, and took his hand again, trying to calm him down.

"Come on, don't be sad. My father says that the person who searches will eventually find. Do you want us to get you a new toy? So you have something to play with until Wendigo is found?"

Swallowing his tears, Will nodded.

"Let's go here," Hannibal pointed at one of the striped tents. "Here we can win a toy. Look, the grand prize is a big plush dog."

Will raised his head and looked at the tent. On the most visible spot, there was a huge stuffed puppy. Nearby there was a sign that said "Hit the target 8 times - and get the prize!"

"Wow! This dog is bigger than me!" Will said.

"Let's go," Hannibal smiled.

Still holding hands, the boys went to the tent. A woman came up to them.

"Hello," Hannibal said.

"Hi, boys," the lady grinned. "If you want to win a large toy, you have to pop eight balloons by throwing these darts" 

She showed them a shelf with plenty of colourful balloons and passed the darts to them - five to Will, five to Hannibal.

"Are you ready?" she said.

Will nodded.

Will was very good at shooting - his father taught him. He chose a target and threw the first dart.

POP! went the balloon.

Will haven't missed a single time - all of his darts hit their balloons. Hannibal wasn't bad at it, either, but not as good as Will. Only two darts out of four hit their targets. Now, Hannibal was holding the last dart in his hand.

"Wait a moment... Five plus two equals what?" Will asked. "Six?"

"Seven," Hannibal corrected him.

"Seven. So, this dart MUST hit the spot! Balloon, I mean. Or we won't win!" Will raised his finger. "Come on, Hannibal! You can do it!"

Hannibal took his aim. Will could see that he was worried. Will himself was worried - what if the dart misses?

Hannibal threw the dart forward. Will followed its progress with huge eyes. Come on... just a little bit more...

CLANK! The dart hit the shelf.

"Oh, no!" Will sighed.

Suddenly, the dart turned while falling and popped a balloon on the lowest level of the shelf.

POP!

"YAY! Hannibal, we DID it!" Will shouted, jumping up and down from happiness. "I told you you can do it!"

Hannibal didn't shout and didn't jump. He simply smiled.

"We did it," he said.

The lady came up to them, this time carrying the large plush puppy in her hands.

"Here you go. Well done!" she said, grinning.

Hannibal took the dog from her hands.

"Thank you", he said, passing it to Will.  

Will hugged the dog tightly.

"I will call it Winston!" he said. "Like my grandpa."

Will put Winston under his arm. With his other hand, he took Hannibal's hand. The boys began to make way to the benches where their parents were sitting.

Suddenly, they heard that somebody was calling for them.

"Oi, boy! Is that your deer?"

A man who worked at water coaster was waving his hand at them. In his other hand, he was holding a very familiar-looking toy...

"Wendigo!" Will shouted, taking the toy. "I think I dropped it in the water."

"Be more careful next time," the man said to him.

Will passed Winston to Hannibal.

"Take it! I've already found Wendigo."

"No, this is my gift to you!" Hannibal shook his head. "Gift are not to be returned."

***

Will and Hannibal finally made it to the benches. Mrs Lecter was talking with Will's mum. Mr Lecter was reading something in his iPad. Noticing the boys, he raised his head.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked, smiling very slightly.

"Yes," Will said.

"A very good time!" Hannibal grinned.

"And where did you get this dog?" mum asked Will.

"We won it with Hannibal, it that tent there," Will explained.

"Wow! I don't think anyone has ever won anything in those tents!" mum said, amazed.

"Anything can be achieved when friends work together," Mr Lecter said.

Hannibal and Will looked at each other and grinned.

"Exactly," Will said.

***

They had a great time in the ice cream cafe, too. Will ordered a large caramel ice cream and ate it happily.

Mischa was still sleeping in her carriage.

"Do little kids ever wake up? Or do they sleep until they are like, one year old?" Will wondered.

Everybody laughed, even Hannibal.

"Of course they wake up! They have to eat sometimes, do they?" Mrs Lecter said.

***

The families only parted in late evening.

At night, lying in his bed with Wendigo and Winston next to him, Will happily remembered the day's events.

It wasn't so hard to make friends, after all.


	3. The Mysteries of October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi :) Thank you very much for your kudos and your comments, I was really happy to see them ^_^  
> So, originally this chapter was going to be about Hannibal and Will celebrating Halloween, but then it took a slightly different turn. Oops. Therefore, a pre-Halloween story.  
> For those of you who wanted Hannibal POV: I experimented with it in the chapter a bit, to see what it would look like. The next chapter might be solely in his POV. I will see to that :)  
> Here is Chapter 3, I hope you enjoy it! ^_^

October has arrived. Almost all leaves have fallen from the trees, and cold wind was blowing. It was time to wear warmer jackets and hats. Will didn't like hats much, but he disliked being cold more.

It was almost Halloween. However, strange things, things impossible to explain started to happen half a month before it.

It was nap time when the quiet of sleeping kindergarten was disturbed by a piercing scream in the bathroom.

Will woke up, alarmed.

"What happened?!" he yelled in shock.

"I dunno," Beverly shrugged, getting up.

The children ran to the bathroom. There they found Freddie, who was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Oh my god, please stop yelling! What's wrong?" Jimmy said, covering his ears.

"Somebody chopped my towel TO PIECES!!!" Freddie cried.

"They haven't just chopped it. They threw the pieces all around," Brian noticed, pointing at the orange pieces of cloth all over the floor.

"Oh god, what a tragedy," Alana rolled her eyes. Will noticed a while ago that she hated Freddie, but he didn't know why.

Suddenly, Jack came in.

"Alright, what's happening here?" he asked.

"Somebody cut Freddie's towel," Beverly explained.

"And threw the pieces on the floor," Will added.

"Well, a towel is not a big loss. We will get you a new one," Jack said to Freddie, trying to comfort her. "The question is: _who_ did it? It's better if they tell me right now."

Nobody said a word.

"Alright. We will talk about it after nap time. And now, back to the bedroom, everyone!" Jack said.

Everyone returned to the bedroom, but of course nobody felt like sleeping.

Freddie talked non-stop.

"So, I come to the bathroom. Then I see orange pieces of cloth everywhere. And then I see that my towel is missing! And that's when I understood everything..."

Jimmy called Will, Beverly and Brian over.

"We need to talk," he said.

They sat together on Will's bed.

"So, _why_ do we need to talk?" Beverly asked.

"It's very secret and important," Jimmy answered.

"Is it about Freddie's towel? Why should we talk about it?" Will wondered.

"Even Jack thinks it's not a big deal," Brian noted.

"It's not about the towel," Jimmy said. "It's about the person who did it. I have a clue."

The other three looked at him with confusion.

"Will, put your hand under your pillow," Jimmy said.

"Why?" Will said, confused.

"Just do it," he repeated.

Will lifted the pillow. There was a Snickers bar under it.

"It appeared here during nap time, right?" Jimmy asked.

Will nodded.

"And the towel was chopped during nap time. So..."

"I got it! It's the same person, is it?" Will said happily.

"Maybe," Jimmy nodded. "Or it could be two people working together."

"Jimmy, you are a genius," Brian slapped him on the shoulder.

"I think it's the same person. And if we find out who it is, we will solve two mysteries at once," Beverly said.

And this is how KBI (Kids' Bureau of Investigation) started its work.

"So, how many of us can read and write? I mean, out of the four of us," Brian asked.

As it turned out, Will was the only one. Beverly couldn't write yet, and Jimmy and Brian weren't interested it reading.

"Why are you asking?" Will wondered.

"We should write everyone's names down on a sheet of paper. Then, we cross out those who clearly didn't do anything. And so on. I saw it in a movie," Brian explained, passing a pen and a sheet of paper to Will.

Will wrote all the names down. He tried to write as well as he could, but the letters kept coming out a bit crooked.

Then, they started to discuss who might be the guilty one.

"Maybe it's Alana?" Beverly suggested.

"Or Bedelia," Brian added.

"Or maybe Francis? They had a fight with Freddie last week, remember?" Will said.

"It could be Freddie!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"What?! Do you think she chopped her own towel?" Beverly asked, shocked.

"Well, why not?" Jimmy shrugged.

"It could be absolutely anyone," Beverly sighed. "We should wait for something else to happen."

***

By the end of the day, the person who cut Freddie's towel remained unknown. The whole thing was forgotten for a while. It seemed that Freddie was the only person who still cared a lot about the situation.

One day, Will walked in on her in the bathroom. She was installing something in the corner, covering it with paper and a basket.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I am making a security camera," she said. 

Will stepped closer and saw that she was hiding her photo camera.

"I set it on video mode so it is recording video non-stop. If anyone decides to cut somebody's towel, it will be on the camera!" Freddie explained.

However, after a whole week of recording during nap times, Freddie got absolutely nothing.

***

Halloween was drawing closer still. The children enjoyed the new activities in the kindergarten. They decorated the classroom with paper pumpkins, bats and ghosts. They also made clay pumpkins in art class, had a contest on who finds more cardboard witch hats in PE, and even writing and maths classes were Halloween-themed.

Halloween always has been Hannibal's favourite holiday. He really liked this joyful, spooky celebration. And of course, he enjoyed going trick-or-treating. Hannibal always prepared for Halloween in advance: he selected a costume, decorated his room and his candy bucket.

Today they were having an art class. Jack gave the children large sheets of thick paper and told them about today's task. They were supposed to make a paper bag for candy and decorate it however they liked.

Hannibal looked around, trying to find Will. He spotted him near the cupboard with art supplies. He and Beverly were choosing scissors and coloured paper.

"Will! Would you like to sit with us?" Hannibal called to Will.

Will turned around, and then whispered something to Beverly. Probably asking if it's okay if Will sits with him, Hannibal thought. Beverly nodded.

"Wait a second, I will get the paper first," Will said to Hannibal.

After the day they spent in the park, Will and Hannibal became closer to each other. Sometimes Will sat with him, Bedelia and Alana at lunch, and several times they even played together. Hannibal smiled, recalling teaching Will to play xylophone a few days ago.

Will sat down on a chair next to him.

"Hi, Hannibal," he grinned, putting his paper and scissors on the table. "I wanted to get some glitter paper, but there wasn't any left. You know, the sparkly one."

"I have some, I can share it with you," Hannibal smiled.

"Thank you. Do you have orange one?" Will asked.

"I do."

Hannibal took a sheet of orange glitter paper and flipped it over to the white side. He though for a moment, and then wrote "Will, would you like to go trick-or-treating with me?" on it with his neatest handwriting. Then, he passed the sheet to Will.

Will took his time to read the note. Hannibal looked at him, slightly worried. What if Will says no? Maybe Beverly or somebody else already invited him? 

Will finished reading and thought for a while. Then, he cut the note off from the rest of the paper, added something and passed it back to Hannibal. He took it and read Will's crooked handwriting. It said "Yes".

Hannibal grinned widely at Will, and returned to his work on the paper bag. Soon, he will have a whole evening to spend with Will. Not to mention the fact that Hannibal had a little surprise prepared for him.

After he finished attaching the handles to his bag, Hannibal turned to watch Will, who was drawing a pumpkin on his glitter paper.

"What's your favourite holiday, Will?" Hannibal asked.

"Christmas, of course!" Will said. "Everybody is happy at Christmas, and there's a lot of gifts. And what's yours?"

"I like Halloween," Hannibal answered, drawing small black bats on his bag.

"Why? Do you like candy?" Will asked, cutting his pumpkin out.

"I do, but it's not the most important thing. Halloween is full of mystery, you know. There is a lot of different stories and myths about this celebration."

Will nodded, putting glue on the back of the pumpkin.

"I have a book of Halloween stories. Would you like to read it, Will?" Alana said, joining the conversation.

There was no answer for a while: Will was busy gluing the pumpkin to his bag. He pressed on it with his hand to stick it better, but it slid off and left a not-so-beautiful spot of glue behind.

"Oh, no!" Will sighed.

"Don't worry, it's easy to fix," Hannibal said. He waited for the glue to dry, and then drew a black cat on the top of the spot.

"Thank you," Will said. "And yes, I would like to read the book, Alana. Can you bring it tomorrow?"

"Actually, I brought it here today," Alana grinned. "We can read it when the class is over."

Will, Hannibal and Bedelia nodded.

***

When the art class was over, the four of them sat on the carpet of the indoor playground.

As it turned out, a lot of people liked Halloween stories. When the other children saw the book in Alana's hands, everyone else in the class joined them. Even Frederick, who was always unhappy with something, decided to participate in story time.

"Hi, Will!" Beverly grinned, sitting down next to him.

Will jumped a bit in surprise. 

"You scared me!" he laughed.

"Boooo!" somebody shouted from behind.

Will turned around and saw Jimmy and Brian.

"Was that scary?" Jimmy asked, smirking.

"Very scary. I nearly wet my pants," Beverly snorted.

Finally, everyone settled down, and Alana began to read the tale of Jack-o-Lantern. The children listened quietly to the story about a cunning man named Jack. He played a trick on the Devil, but later he had to pay a price for it. Jack had to walk between Heaven and Hell forever. And, because it was very dark there, Jack made himself a lantern out of a pumpkin.

"And that's why we carve pumpkins every Halloween," Alana finished the tale and closed the book.

"Can I ask you something?" Brian said to her.

"Yes, sure," Alana smiled.

"How did Jack come back to Earth?"

"He didn't. He is stuck there forever."

"How come he is our teacher then?" Brian asked in a completely calm voice.

Everyone, including Alana, laughed loudly.

"I wonder what Jack did with his lantern when he returned," Jimmy said.

"He is hiding it somewhere!" Beverly suggested.

"Under his bed!"

"Under his pillow!"

"In his closet!"

"He uses it as a room light!"

"He gave it to the museum!"

More and more suggestions followed, and each was met with a burst of laughter. Even Hannibal laughed so hard that his hair got messy.

Finally, it was lunch time, and the fun was over for the moment. Will thought that the joke was now forgotten, but Beverly whispered to him:

"Wait, Jimmy and Brian have another idea..."

After lunch, everyone went to the bedroom to change for nap time. Will was already in bed when Jack entered the room to check that everyone was ready to sleep.

Jimmy came up to him.

"Jack, can I ask you something?" he said in the most innocent voice.

"Yes, go ahead," Jack nodded.

"Jack, when you came back to Earth, did you take the pumpkin lantern with you?" Jimmy asked, smirking.

Everyone started to giggle and laugh. Jack's clueless face was hardly helpful at all.

Finally, the laughter died, and Alana explained everything to Jack.

"And next you will say that I climbed the beanstalk, too!" he snorted.

"Why, that's a great idea!" Brian raised his finger.

Yes, it was definitely a very funny day.

***

When Jack left and everybody settled down, Hannibal quietly came up to Will and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Will, are you asleep?" he asked.

"No," Will answered.

"That's good," Hannibal smiled. "I was just thinking that it's good to have a rare name. I don't think there is a story, for example, about a Hannibal who went to visit his grandma in the woods and nearly got eaten by a wolf."

Will giggled, imagining Hannibal in a red hood and with a basket in his hands.

"Actually, there is a legend about an Ancient Roman Hannibal. My mum told me about it once," Bedelia whispered from the bed next to Will's. 

"I hope Alana doesn't have a book about him," Hannibal laughed.

"And I've heard about a movie with a Hannibal in it. But it's for adults, and I am not allowed to watch it," Brian added.

"It seems that my name is not so rare after all," Hannibal sighed.

" _I_ have the rarest name!" Frederick claimed.

"There is a whole _city_ named Frederick," Brian snorted.

"I think my name is quite uncommon. I have never heard about a character called Bedelia," Bedelia whispered.

One by one, the children fell asleep. Soon, Hannibal and Bedelia were the only ones who were still talking quietly with each other. Will felt that his eyes were closing. He was already dozing when Hannibal's voice woke him up.

"Will, can I please lay down next to you? Bedelia and I haven't finished talking yet, and I am cold."

Will took a look at him. Unlike Will, who had warm pajamas, Hannibal slept in a shirt and shorts. He had goosebumps all over his skin, and was clearly cold.

"Alright," Will said and moved a bit to give Hannibal some space.

"Thank you," Hannibal smiled. He laid down on the bed and pulled the covers over himself.

"No problems," Will shrugged. He turned to lay on his side and soon fell asleep listening to quiet whispers of Hannibal and Bedelia. Of course, Will wanted to know what they were talking about, but their voices were too quiet for him to hear.


	4. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hi everyone :) Sorry for taking ages to post (again). Thank you for your kudos and comments ^_^  
> Here is the Halloween chapter. It's kinda long to be honest. I hope you enjoy it :)

It might seem strange, but Hannibal's favorite time at kindergarten was not music or art classes, and not even playtime. Most of all, he loved the nap time. And it wasn't that he enjoyed taking naps, no. He never slept during this time. For Hannibal, it was the time for much more interesting activities...

Today, his "interesting activity" consisted of lying on a bed next to Will and talking to Bedelia. It was very warm and cozy, lying next to Will. Hannibal couldn't help but feel a bit sad that he won't be able to do this often. Someone would notice it eventually, and Bedelia did like to sleep sometimes.

Fistly, Hannibal asked the girl about the Roman Hannibal.

"He was a Roman warrior. A gla-di-a-tor," Bedelia said slowly.

"A gladiator?"

"Yes. They are warriors who had to fight each other and large wild animals while other people watched."

"Wow. That's scary. Why did they put up with it?" Hannibal wondered.

"Well, Hannibal didn't. He persuaded other gladiators to run away with him, and they started a war." Bedelia said.

"That's great! Did they win?"

"No," Bedelia sighed.

"He probably hadn't prepared well," Hannibal thought to himself. 

He carefully slid his hand into a pocket of his shorts. That's where he put a candy he was going to give to Will. Hannibal chose it very carefully the previous day, a delicious apple toffee. Now his task was to slide it under Will's pillow without Bedelia noticing. How was he going to do that?....

"Hannibal. Hannibal!" Bedelia whispered.

"Yes?" Hannibal said.

"I thought you fell asleep. Don't forget to go back to your bed, or one of you is going to fall," Bedelia said.

"No, we won't fall. But thanks for reminding," Hannibal nodded. Then suddenly, he had an idea.

Holding the toffee tightly in his fist, the boy put his hand under the pillow, like it was an accident. It looked like Bedelia hadn't noticed anything. Then, Hannibal let the candy go, and it ended up lying under Will's pillow.

"I hope Will likes it," Hannibal thought, smiling to himself.

Suddenly, Will snorted in his sleep and mumbled something into distance. After that he turned to the other side and ended up nuzzling Hannibal's neck.

Hannibal grinned.

"Will is cute, by the way. Isn't he?" Bedelia noticed all of sudden.

"Yes. He's adorable," Hannibal nodded.

Bedelia covered her mouth with her hand, as if to hide her laugh.

"What's funny about it?" Hannibal asked.

"Nothing," Bedelia turned away. "I'm going to sleep now. It's better if you do, too."

Hannibal checked the clock on the wall. Nap time ends in half an hour. Well, he could stay for a little longer, right?

"Alright. But I need to ask you something first."

"One _last_ question," Bedelia said.

"Yes. Do you know which girl has a lot of hair accessories? Like bands, clips and stuff like that?"

"I dunno. Freddie has lots. Also, Reba does. You can ask Alana if you want.... Why do you need them?"

Hannibal pretended not to hear the last bit. It was his own secret, after all.

***

Finally, the day Hannibal was waiting for had come. It was 31st of October, Halloween. And this year, the day was extra special for Hannibal. Firstly, it was Saturday, and he didn't have to go to kindergarten. And secondly, and most importantly, he will spend the whole evening with Will! Hannibal was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep the previous night. He laid in bed until midnight, thinking about the upcoming Halloween.

On the 31st, Hannibal woke up early in the morning regardless. He decided to start the day by helping his mum to bake the pumpkin pie and cupcakes for Halloween. Every year, the Lecter family had delicious pastry for Halloween dinner, and Hannibal really wanted to find out how it's made.

When the boy arrived to the kitchen, his mum was making the dough for the pumpkin pie. Mischa was sitting in her high chair at the corner of the room, playing with her spoon happily.

"Good morning," Hannibal smiled, putting his apron on.

"Hello, Hanni," his mum smiled. "Would you like to help me with the baking?"

"Of course," Hannibal nodded.

"Alright. Could you please mush this pumpkin for me? It's here, in the big bowl."

Hannibal grabbed the bowl and began to squish the pumpkin.

"And dear, don't forget to mush very carefully, so there is no small pieces left. It's like mashing potatoes," mum reminded him.

"That's not hard then," Hannibal grinned. He could make very good mashed potatoes. And he loved cooking in general, to be honest.

When Hannibal's dad came to feed Mischa her porridge, Hannibal and mum were already finishing the pie.

"Helping mum with cooking, Hannibal?" dad asked.

"Yes," Hannibal nodded.

"Well done. Keep going," dad smiled at him.

Then, it was time to make cupcakes. Hannibal put the dough into the cupcake tray, and mum put it in the oven to bake.

"Mum, can I give one cake to Will? I think he likes cupcakes," Hannibal asked.

"Of course you can," Mum smiled.

When it was time to decorate the cupcakes, Hannibal selected the most good-looking one and put orange and brown cream on it. Then he finished the cupcake off with a spider cookie on the top and some orange sprinkles. It looked so good, and smelled very delicious!

"What a beautiful cupcake!" mum said, looking at it. "I think Will will definitely like it!"

"Me too," Hannibal said happily.

***

When evening came, Hannibal went to his room to change into his Halloween costume. This year he was going as a killer. He made it in September. Hannibal put on his old white shirt, which was sprayed with fake blood. Then, he added his normal pants and shoes to it. The boy ruffled his usually tidy hair, and put some red face paint on his face. 

Hannibal checked himself out in the mirror. All seemed good. He even had a toy knife which was painted red at the edge.

Oh. He had forgotten something.

Hannibal went to his chest drawer. He opened his secret drawer and found a large chocolate candy there. It was a very, very important sweet, and it was a shame that he nearly left it there. Hannibal put the candy into his pocket and went to the car.

***

Soon, dad left Hannibal at Will's house, promising to return for him at nine.

Hannibal went to the small house with white walls, holding the box with the cupcake in one hand, and a candy basket in the other. Excitement was bubbling inside him, though he tried to stay calm on the outside.

He went to the door and knocked. It swung open immediately. 

Will was standing at the door. He was wearing brown pants and a cream-colored sweater with fur attached to its front. On his head, there was a headband with antlers. 

"Hi, Hannibal!" Will grinned.

"Hello, Will," Hannibal smiled. "May I come in?"

"Yeah, of course," Will stepped aside, letting Hannibal into the house.

Hannibal looked around and found the place cozy. The house was very clean, and had plenty of flower pots around. There were several photos on the wall, as well. 

"I have a gift for you," Hannibal said, giving Will the box.

Will opened it carefully, and his eyes shone happily.

"Oh, a cupcake! It looks awesome! Did you bake it yourself?" he asked.

"I did," Hannibal nodded.

"Cool," Will whistled. "Thank you. Come with me?"

Will went to a room on the left. Hannibal followed him, curious.

The room turned out to be Will's bedroom. It looked like a completely normal bedroom. There was a two-bunk bed, a table with plenty of drawers, and a toy box in the corner. On the bed lied Will's favorite toys: Wendigo, his plush deer, and Winston, a huge stuffed dog he and Hannibal won in the park.

Will rushed to the room, picking up the clothes on the floor.

"I couldn't find my costume," he explained.

"Who are you going as?" Hannibal asked, looking at Will's clothes.

"I'm a deer!" Will said. "Not a regular deer. It's like, a dangerous deer. Were-deer. Like werewolf, but deer."

"Why is it dangerous?" Hannibal wondered, looking at Will's table. There were many things there: pens, pencils, markers, notebooks...

"It hunts deer hunters," Will explained. "It's their revenge. I came up with this myself."

"That's very interesting," Hannibal nodded.

"Could you please paint my face? The face paint is in one of the drawers," Will asked.

"Sure," Hannibal said. He randomly opened one of the drawers of the table. What he found there was definitely not face paint. The drawer was full of candy wrappings of all sorts. And strange enough, they all looked very familiar to Hannibal...

The wrappings from the candy he gave to Will.

"Are you collecting candy wraps, Will?" Hannibal asked, trying not to give his secret away.

"What? Oh, no, I don't," Will quickly closed the drawer. "Never mind those. They come from sweets I find under my pillow."

"Sweets under a pillow?" Hannibal raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, yeah. Somebody puts them under my pillow in the kindergarten," Will ran a hand through his hair, absent-minded.

"Hmm... And who do you think it might be?" Hannibal smiled slightly.

"No idea. It could be anyone," Will said.

He opened another drawer and gave Hannibal face paint and brushes.

"Please?" Will asked, looking at Hannibal with puppy eyes. "So cute," Hannibal thought, and laughed lightly.

"I would like to," he said. "Just try not to smile or move your face, or the paint will smudge."

***

Soon, two children left the Graham house, a small killer and little were-deer. They were both holding their baskets, and held hands together. The boys ran to the house across the street.

Will knocked on the door.

"Trick or treat!" he yelled when it opened.

A young man laughed.

"Here is your candy, guys," he said, throwing a lolly to each basket.

The two continued their way down the street, collecting sweets, talking and laughing. Hannibal was swinging his basket as he walked. He was so happy!

Then, Will suddenly pulled him by the sleeve.

"Hannibal?"

"Whats wrong, Will?"

"I feel like somebody is watching us."

Hannibal looked around the street, squinting in the twilight, but saw nobody except for other trick-or-treaters. 

"It's just the Halloween spirit," he decided.

"Maybe," Will shrugged. 

They kept walking and soon forgot about the small incident.

"That's where Francis lives," Hannibal said, pointing at a two-story house they were passing by.

"Should we come and say hi?" Will suggested.

"I don't think so. His grandma is very strict. She doesn't let Francis eat any candy at all. She thinks it's bad for his health, or any child's health, to be honest."

"Oh," Will nodded. "Poor Francis."

Hannibal and Will turned around the corner, to another street. Their baskets were half full by now. "If I put one in Will's basket, it won't be noticeable," Hannibal thought.

They were at the porch of another house when there was a loud rustle behind them.

The boys turned around, but saw nothing.

"What was it?" Will asked.

"I don't know... Wind, perhaps?" Hannibal shrugged.

Then, the house door opened.

"Oh! Hi, Hannibal! Hi, Will!"

As it turned out, it was Freddie's house.

"Hi, Freddie. Why aren't you trick-or-treating?" Will asked her.

"I'm waiting for Abigail," Freddie said.

Will kept talking with Freddie. Seizing the opportunity, Hannibal put his special piece of candy into Will's basket. He wondered if Will could read his secret message. But that was hardly possible, Hannibal thought. Will didn't know Lithuanian.

***

Soon, Will and Hannibal continued their way. It was getting dark. In the sky, there were bright stars and a full moon.

"A full moon is the best time for were-deers," Will said. "They transform during the full moon."

"What do they look like at any other time?" Hannibal wondered aloud.

"Just like normal deers. They can't be killed, though. Bulletproof," Will answered.

The street ended at the green park. Hannibal and Will decided to cross it. Today, the park was almost empty. In the middle of it, there was a small playground.

"Let's go to the swings!" Will suggested.

"Let's," Hannibal nodded.

Will set his basket on the bench and jumped to the empty swing.

"Can you please give me a head start?" Will asked.

Hannibal smiled and nodded. He put his basket next to Will's and came up to the swing, pushing it lightly. With each push, the swing went higher and higher, much to Will's delight. He even started singing something.

And then, suddenly, Will went quiet.

"What's wrong, Will?" Hannibal asked, worried.

Will jumped off the swing.

"Look over there," he whispered, pointing to the bushes near the playground.

Hannibal looked and saw what scared Will. Something was moving between the bushes, like a shadow. It was coming closer and closer to the playground. 

"W-what is it?" Hannibal asked, trying to sound braver than he felt. 

"I don't know," Will sighed. "A werewolf, maybe?"

"I have no idea," Hannibal shrugged. He had to be brave, goddammit! Who is going to protect Will if he becomes scared?

Hannibal squeezed Will's hand to calm him down, like he did in an amusement park.

Then suddenly, two shapes appeared from the bushes. One of them was higher than the other, but they were both white. They looked scary in the dim light of the park.

One of the shapes howled loudly.

"Ghosts," Will whispered.

Hannibal looked straight into the creature's eyes, or at least where he thought its eyes should be. He was not afraid of them, he decided. He won't let them hurt Will!

He stepped forward and took his plastic knife out of his pocket.

"Get away from us, or I will hurt you!" he shouted.

The creatures stopped. Then one of them, the bigger one, took a step back. The white covers fell away from it, to reveal...

"Brian?! Jimmy?! What the _heck_?!" Will yelped.

"Booo! We scared you, didn't we?" Jimmy said, climbing off Brian's shoulders.

"Well, you did actually," Will snorted. "But what for?"

"I'll explain," said the second creature, pulling the covers off. It turned out to be Beverly.

She told Hannibal and Will that she, Brian and Jimmy were hanging out in her house, and they got bored. Jimmy suggested doing something "cool" instead of just trick-or-treating. Brian said that they should hide somewhere and spook the person who they see the first. It just so happened that they saw Hannibal and Will.

"Ha, you two should play in a horror movie!" Will laughed.

"No. We will go for ghost auditions!" Brian confessed joyfully.

Everyone laughed. Hannibal decided not to be angry with them. It was just a Halloween prank, nothing more.

Hannibal and Will grabbed their baskets and went trick-or-treating with Beverly, Jimmy and Brian.

***

It was late evening when they came back to Will's house. The children decided to have a look at the candy they've gotten.

"Oh, look what I have! A whole-sized chocolate bar! It even has nuts in it!" Brian breathed out.

"And I've got five caramel toffees! My favorites!" Beverly grinned.

"Ew! They get stuck in your teeth!" Jimmy said.

"Each to their own opinion," Hannibal noticed.

"You are right," Will nodded. "I, for example, like fruit toffees with a liquid center."

"I should remember this," Hannibal thought to himself.

"And what sweets do you like, Hannibal?" Will asked.

"My favorites are the box chocolates. Especially the ones that look like seashells," Hannibal answered.

"Oh, I've tried them once. They are so awesome!" Beverly gasped.

They kept talking and eating candy, until it was nine o'clock and Hannibal had to go outside to wait for his dad.

"I am afraid I should go now," he said. "Goodbye!"

"Bye, Hannibal!" said Beverly, Jimmy and Brian.

Will, however, decided to go outside with Hannibal.

"It was such a good day today, right?" Will asked as they stood on the front porch.

"Yes, very. But your friends did give us a scare," Hannibal grinned.

"They did," Will nodded. "But we collected so many sweets! And we got to swing."

Hannibal smiled.

All of sudden, it seemed as if Will remembered something. He put a hand in his pocket and took something from it. Then, he took Hannibal by the hand and put the "something" into it.

"This is for Winston. And for the cupcake. And because you are a good friend," Will said.

Hannibal felt surprised and happy at the same time. He looked at his hand. He was holding a Hershey's bar.

"It's not the seashell chocolate, of course, but I really like this one. You should try it, too," Will smiled.

"Thank you, Will," Hannibal smiled widely. Happiness was bubbling in him. He looked at Will, who looked so very cute in his deer costume and with a grin on his face. Hannibal felt a strong urge to hug him. He was actually about to do it, when a car pulled over at the driveway. Hannibal's dad came to pick him up.

"Oh, I have to go now. Goodbye, Will!" Hannibal waved at him, and went to the car.

"Bye, Hannibal!" Will waved back happily.

On the way back home, Hannibal decided that this Halloween was definitely the best one in his life. Will thought he was a good friend! Who would have thought!

***

Meanwhile, Will went back to his home. Beverly, Jimmy and Brian left soon, because it was getting late. Will sat down on the edge of his bed, thinking happily about another good day spent with Hannibal.

He decided to go to his mum's study to wish her goodnight, and then go to sleep. But before that, he will just have one more candy.

Will went to his basket and randomly took out a sweet. It was a chocolate candy, with a strange wrapping. Will has never seen this kind of sweet before. 

He took off the wrapper and ate the candy. Will found it very delicious. He decided to check the name of the candy, so he could buy more later.

It was only then that the boy noticed that something was written on the inside of the wrapper. 

Will squinted at the small, neat letters. He wondered if this was from his secret candy giver. Maybe, this was finally the clue to find out who they are.

The letters spelled: "ATM".

 


	5. Hairstyles and Popcorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone :) Thank you very much for all your kudos and comments! (100+ kudos omg!!! ^_^). Here is the new chapter, which is even longer then the Halloween one. Oops XD.  
> So, I wanted to explore Will explaining something to Hannibal for a change (since Hanni always educates him on art and stuff...). I hope you like this chapter :)

""ATM"? What does it mean?"

Will, Beverly, Jimmy and Brian were sitting in the corner of the indoor playground. Will took out the candy wrapper with the note he got on Halloween and was now showing it to his friends.

"I think it's a message. A clue," Will said.

"It's coded!" Brian noticed.

"Probably," Will nodded.

"Hmm... ATM..." Jimmy thought for a moment. "Maybe it means "Apples, Toasted Mushrooms"?"

"What do toasted mushrooms even have to do with this?" Beverly asked.

"No idea. But it fits."

"Angry Tree Monster?" Brian suggested.

"Oh, come on. Let's be more serious," Will said.

"Hm.. Well, to _be more serious_ , "M" probably stands for "my" or "me"," Jimmy offered.

"Wait!" Beverly jumped. "I know what it means!"

The other three turned to look at her.

"It's "Answer To Me!"" she said in delight. "This person wants you to write them back!"

"Well, this sounds logical," Will nodded slowly.

"I think you should leave something sweet under your pillow, and a small note," Beverly suggested.

After some brief discussion, they decided what exactly Will is going to do. The next day, Will brought some jelly from home. Before nap time, he put it under his pillow, next to the note that said "Thanks for candy! (TFC)". Will even drew a smiley face next to the letters.

Laying in bed, he couldn't help but think about the person who will find his note. Also, he wondered how the "special" candy even got into his basket in the first place.

"At Halloween, I saw Hannibal, Freddie, Beverly, Brian and Jimmy. Maybe it's one of them?" Will thought. He decided that Hannibal wasn't the person who did it. After all, he could just give candy to Will in person. There was no need for him to do it so secretly, right? Soon, Will drifted to sleep.

***

He woke up because of loud laugh. As it seemed, no one was asleep at the moment.

"What happened?" Will asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Look at Frederick," Brian snorted.

Frederick was sitting on his bed and looked very confused. He seemed to be exactly the same as usual, except for... his hair. There was something weird about his hair. Frederick's head was covered with rubber bands and hair clips. He even sported a pink hair band. Will couldn't help but laugh.

"What is so funny?!" Frederick shouted, annoyed. He accidentally ran a hand through his hair and immediately found the answer.

"Oh, what the heck!" he yelled. Frederick pulled at a random hair band, trying to get rid of it.

"I will help you!" Freddie rushed to him.  "Oh, wait... those are mine! Why did you take them?!"

"I didn't!" Frederick shouted.

"Who did then?"

"I don't know!"

"Well... then I will take your photo."

"NO!!!"

It was too late. Freddie snapped a picture quickly.

"Now, give them back to me!" she said proudly.

Frederick muttered something and started to remove the accessories.

Beverly came to sit on Will's bed.

"I think it's that person again," she said.

"Yeah. Who do you think that might be?" Brian asked.

Will thought for a moment. The ripped towel, Halloween, hair clips... These all lead to the same person...

"It's Freddie," Will stated.

"Freddie?! Why?!" Beverly asked.

"Look. It all adds up. At Halloween, I went to her house. She could take this chance to put the candy in my basket. She can read and write. And it were her bands on Frederick's head."

"I know! Freddie just wanted to take his photo!" Brian slapped his forehead.

"I told you it was Freddie!" Jimmy added.

Will grinned. Finally, the mystery was solved! Everything was so reasonable, so...

"No," Beverly said suddenly.

"What? Why no?" Brian turned to her.

"We don't know that she did it for sure. And anyway, Freddie? Sharing candy? Seriously, guys?"

"Um, so what do we do now?" Will asked. He was quite disappointed.

"We keep looking, but we keep an eye on Freddie," Jimmy decided.

"By the way, has anyone thought that it could be Abigail? I mean, she is so quiet, no one would suspect her..." Brian began.

Will turned away. All this stuff was so confusing, honestly. How could people in FBI find serial killers and all that, when even solving such a small mystery is so much work?

"Hey, Will! Did you get a reply from the candy giver?" Beverly asked.

Will shrugged. He reached under his pillow, to find a toffee there.

"Aw, so, no answer?" Jimmy said.

"Maybe they wrote it on the wrapper," Will suggested.

He unwrapped the candy and stuffed it into his mouth. Then, he investigated the wrapper. The careful, neat letters spelled: ""ATM" does not mean "Answer To Me". But thank you anyways". In the end, there was a smiley face and a tiny heart.

"Well... so, what does it mean then?" Will asked, confused. Also, he was sure he had seen the handwriting before. He just couldn't remember when and where...

"Maybe I was right, and it's "Apples, Toasted Mushrooms"?" Jimmy said.

Will made a face at him. Suddenly, Brian giggled.

"Hey, they changed your hairstyle, too," he said.

Beverly gave Will a mirror, and he saw a small red bow tied in his hair.

"It suits you, you know," Beverly grinned smugly.

Will snorted and pulled the bow off.

"Maybe the person who tied it also thought so," he answered.

***

Later that day, just before their last class, Jack said that he has some good news for everyone.

"What are they?" Alana asked.

"If everyone behaves themselves this month, we will go to the movies, just before Thanksgiving," Jack said.

The news were met with pure joy.

"What movie are we going to watch?" Francis asked.

"Something scary, I hope!" Brian breathed out.

"Will we buy popcorn?"

"What about cola?"

"Or chips?"

"2D or 3D?"

Jack laughed.

"Okay, calm down guys. It will be a kids' movie, of course. Maybe even in 3D. As for food, you parents will write about it on the permission slip. And now, we are going to learn about letter "S"..."

Will took his marker and carefully copied the letter to his notebook. And then again. As Jack began to talk about the words that start with "S", Will took a peek into Hannibal's notebook. He was sitting right beside Will, writing quickly and neatly. Will sighed. Such a pity that he couldn't write as well as Hannibal...

Hannibal finished copying the last word and put his pen down.

"Do you like going to the movies, Will?" he asked.

"Yes, but I don't do it often. Last year I went to see Big Hero 6 with my father. It was cool, really. And what about you?"

Hannibal paused for a moment, thinking.

"To be honest, I've never been to a movie theater before," he confessed finally.

Will was so surprised that he dropped his marker.

"You... what? Really?"

"Yes. I have been to a regular theater, and museums, and exhibitions, but never a movie theater."

"Wow," Will said. "I hope you will go with us. It's fun, really. You will like it."

"I will go," Hannibal nodded. Will smiled at him.

***

November went by without anything extraordinary. No more cropped towels, no more crazy hairstyles. Finally, Jack decided that they will go to the movies.

"How about "The Good Dinosaur"?" he suggested.

Everyone agreed.

"Dinosaurs are like dragons. And dragons are awesome!" Will heard Francis say.

***

Several days before Thanksgiving, it was time for the trip. Will climbed into the school bus with the other kids.

"Alright, everyone, take your seats," Jack said, entering the bus.

Will sat down by the window. He saw a woman coming to sit at the front next to Jack. She was their music teacher, and Jack's wife. Jack said that her name was Bella, but she preferred the kids to call her Mrs Crawford.

"Hey there!" Beverly yelled, taking the seat next to Will. Brian and Jimmy sat right across. Then, the bus steered and went up the road.

"I hoped it's a horror movie, but dinosaurs are cool, too," Brian said.

""Peppa Pig" has a dinosaur in it, come on. I hope this one is funny," Jimmy replied.

Will snorted.

"Can we sit together in the theater?" Beverly asked Will.

"Um... I would love to, but what about Hannibal?"

"Well, there will be a chair on each side, right? I take one, Hannibal takes the other," Beverly suggested.

"Oh. Sorry, I forgot," Will murmured.

"That's OK. Also, you and Hannibal are like, sooo cute together! Right?" she turned to Brian and Jimmy. They grinned and nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Will raised his eyebrow.

The three children exchanged looks and smirks.

"Will and Hannibal..." Brian began.

"Sitting in a tree..." Jimmy continued.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Beverly finished.

Will stuck his tongue out.

"Oh, come on. We are just friends! And we are too young to kiss."

"Oooh, so you do want to kiss him, right?" Beverly smirked smugly.

Will shrugged and turned to look out of the window instead. This was really getting ridiculous.

***

Soon, the bus stopped by a large shopping mall. 

"Wow, cool! I've been here before. They have a fabulous toy shop!" Brian said.

Will left the bus. He looked at the huge building. It was really big, and had glass panels and colourful signs.

"Alright, form two lines! Nobody leaves the line. Everyone, follow me!" Jack said.

Will stood next to Beverly, and on they went. 

They went up the elevator, and arrived to the cinema. Jack went to collect the tickets, and the children went to buy popcorn with Bella.

Will was thinking whether he should buy sweet or salty popcorn when Hannibal approached him.

"Hello, Will! I thought I lost you."

"Hi," Will grinned. "Which popcorn are you going to buy?"

"Well, which one is better?" Hannibal asked.

"Um... it depends, really," Will shrugged.

Finally, they decided to buy a bucket of sweet and a bucket of salty popcorn and switch them when they are halfway done.

Then, Will and Hannibal sat on a bench near the ticket office and watched Jimmy and Brian's popcorn battle.

"Why do people throw food?" Hannibal wondered. "It was made to be eaten, not wasted."

"You sort of sound like my mum," Will snorted. "But, I don't know. I don't throw food around."

"Hey, Jimmy, did you hear? He doesn't throw food!" Brian shouted.

"POPCORN ATTACK!" Jimmy yelled.

Brian and Jimmy grabbed Will and Hannibal's buckets and spilled popcorn all over them. Will didn't even have time to answer with a sarcastic comment.

"Hey, stop!" he shouted, laughing. Will tried to protect himself with his hands, but failed.

"Ahem. What's going on here?" somebody said suddenly.

As it turned out, Bella wasn't fond of popcorn showers.

"Well, at least it was fun," Jimmy muttered, picking the spilled snack up from the floor.

Will laughed and ran a hand through his hair to clean it from popcorn. He hoped that Hannibal didn't feel bad about the whole thing.

***

Finally, all the popcorn was cleaned, and it was movie time. Will and Hannibal took their seats. Will really liked them: they were soft and cozy. Meanwhile, Hannibal looked all around.

"It's similar to a regular theater," he noticed. "Except that there is no balconies, or curtains. Or stage. The movie is shown on this large screen, am I right?"

"Yes," Will nodded. "And the sound comes from those speakers, see?"

Jack passed through the row, giving everyone 3D glasses. Hannibal carefully looked at them.

"What are they for?" he asked.

"When you wear them, the movie becomes 3D. It's like it all is happening right here," Will explained.

He took the glasses from Hannibal's hands and put them on his face.

"Like this," Will grinned. Hannibal looked at him, slightly confused. Will thought that Hannibal looked different when wearing dark glasses. Cooler, maybe?

"Will!" somebody whispered loudly. Will turned to Beverly, who was sporting 3D glasses and a smirk on her face.

"Ready to watch a blockbuster?" she asked.

"Always ready," Will nodded.

"By the way, Brian and Jimmy already ate their popcorn. Now they keep asking me to share mine. No way I'm doing that."

Will snorted.

"Nice choice. Don't give it to them."

He turned around and grabbed some sweet-and-salty mix. He and Hannibal made it from what was left of their popcorn.

The lights went off, and various trailers appeared on the screen. Will rolled his eyes. Why there always were so many trailers in cinema? He could watch them on Youtube if he wanted to.

"Will? Isn't this movie supposed to be about dinosaurs?" Hannibal whispered.

"Don't worry. These are just trailers. The actual movie will be a bit later," Will said, eating another handful of popcorn.

Finally, the trailers were over, and instead of them there were huge green dinosaurs.

"Brian was probably right about "Peppa Pig"," Beverly giggled.

Somebody on Beverly's left whispered "Dinosaur!" and growled. Chuckles followed from the same direction.

Will turned back to the screen. He watched the river carry the small dinosaur and the ginger boy far, far away...

Will rested his head on Hannibal's shoulder. Strange enough, it was more comfortable to sit that way. Soon he felt that Hannibal was nuzzling his hair. 

They quietly watched the film as the friendship between the boy and the dinosaur progressed. Will really liked the story, even though it was quite sad.

***

When the movie was over, the children went back to the bus. They kept talking about the film all the way there.

"The hamster scene was the best!" Jimmy decided. "Did you see them pop from their holes? I nearly died laughing."

"Yeah, me too," Brian laughed.

Hannibal and Will decided to sit together on the way back. Will took a place by the window, and Hannibal sat next to him.

"Well, what do you think?" Will asked.

"It was really a beautiful movie. A story of unlikely, but true friendship. The friends who are ready to protect each other no matter what! And everyone calls it "the dinosaur movie". That's rude", Hannibal said.

"Wow. I agree," Will nodded. "What was your favourite moment?"

"The firefly scene," Hannibal answered. "You know, Will, there is a large garden by my grandma's house in Lithuania. It has a fountain and everything. During summer nights, there is a lot of fireflies there. It's so beautiful!"

"Wait a second. Your grandma lives in Lithuania?"

"Well, yes. My parents also lived there, before they moved to America."

"That's so cool!" Will breathed out. "Do you go there often?"

"Last time I've been there was this summer. It was very warm, even at night. Sometimes I set the alarm clock to go off at night. I woke up and climbed out of the window, so I could go to the garden without waking anyone up. I sat by the fountain for a long time, watching the fireflies." Hannibal's face lit up at the memory. "I hope that I can show it to you one day."

"Me too," Will grinned. He couldn't help but daydream a little bit. Hannibal's grandma's house, in his imagination, was a small wooden cottage. Will thought about him and Hannibal quietly climbing out of the house, to a large garden full of flowers and fruit trees. He and Hannibal, sitting together on the edge of the fountain, surrounded by a million tiny lighting buds...

Will was pulled out of his daydream as the bus gave a shake and went down the road, back to the kindergarten.

Suddenly, Will noticed that Hannibal was dozing off.

"Do you usually sleep in the bus?" Will asked.

"I do," Hannibal nodded. "The bus always shakes just a little bit. It makes me sleepy."

"Sleeping while sitting is uncomfortable," Will noticed. When his dad took him to fishing trips, they had to get up very early. So, Will always slept while his father was driving. He still remembered dozing off while sitting and waking up with a sore neck several hours later. He always slept lying on the back seat after that.

"You should lie down," Will said.

"There isn't enough space," Hannibal shook his head.

"You can put your head in my lap," Will suggested.

Hannibal thought for a bit, and then nodded. He took his shoes off and lied across the seat, resting his head in Will's lap. Soon, Hannibal was fast asleep.

Will bent down slightly to look at Hannibal's face. He slept calmly and hardly moved at all. Once or twice he smiled, and Will couldn't help but wonder why.

Will noticed that Hannibal still had bits of popcorn in his hair. He turned to Freddie, who was sitting behind him.

"Hey Freddie, do you have a hair brush?"

"Of course," she said.

"Can I borrow it?"

"OK, but give it back soon!"

Freddie gave him an orange hair brush.

Will carefully combed though Hannibal's hair, removing pieces of corn. His hair was light and soft, just several shades darker than the popcorn. 

When the bus stopped by the kindergarten, he had to gently shake Hannibal to wake him up.

"That was fast," he noticed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Of course, you slept all the way there," Will chuckled.

Before they left the bus, Will took one last glance at Hannibal's hair. It was all good. Just like Will's mood.

 


	6. Handwriting and the Other Art

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi ^_^ Again, thank you SO much for your kudos and comments. This update is quick because I'm on a holiday :) I hope you like it. By the way, in this AU Bella is not ill (at least not yet).  
> Also, the chapter I was writing turned out wayyy too long, so I broke it in two parts :) Part 2 will follow up soon (maybe even tomorrow).

"Put your right foot in, and put your right foot out! In, out, in, out..."

Will rolled his eyes and sighed. Alright, they sang songs and played drums and xylophones. This was all good fun. However, recently Mrs Crawford decided that they simply MUST dance at music class. And Will didn't like that a tiniest bit.

"You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around..."

No, seriously. Who the heck even came up with this?!

"Will, put your hands up higher!"

Will nearly groaned. He couldn't care less about dancing, honestly. Especially not after what happened about twenty minutes ago, when everyone woke up after nap time. Jimmy and Brian had pig snouts drawn on their faces. What is more, they had "Peppa" and "George" written on their cheeks.

"Ahahah! Jimmy, you are Peppa!" Brian nearly fell of his bed from laughing so hard.

"Actually, I am younger than you by two whole months. So, you should be Peppa," Jimmy pointed out.

"Well, the person who did this thought otherwise!" Brian answered.

Jimmy promised that when he finds out who they are, he will punch them in the face.

Meanwhile, Will was eating the Twix bar he found under his pillow and was deep in thought about who this unfortunate person might be. And that was what he was thinking about right now, too. Not some "hokey pokeys" or old man McDonald who had a farm.

***

Finally, the class was over, and Will and the KBI could discuss recent events.

"Alright, at least we have a hint now," Will said. "Maybe they didn't tell us what "ATM" means. But now we have a good sample of their handwriting!"

"That's right! So we can find them by handwriting. Few people here can write so well," Beverly added.

"But how can we find out?" Jimmy pointed out. "We can't just tell everyone to write the same thing, and then show it to us."

"Yeah, it only works for Jack during writing class," Will nodded sadly.

Suddenly, Brian jumped up.

"Wait. The writing class! We need to sneak into Jack's office after he collects the notebooks, and look through them!" 

The other three looked at him with honest admiration.

"Good plan. But also risky," Beverly noticed. "What if we get caught?"

"We can just make up something. Like, "Sorry, Jack. I think I left some stickers in my book"," Brian suggested.

"Still. We need to wait for the right moment," Will said.

***

"The right moment" came two days later. After the writing class, Jack collected the notebooks and carried them to his office. Then, he stepped back into the learning area and looked out of the window.

"What a nice, sunny day! Who wants to go build a snowman?"

A lot of people did, actually. Everyone rushed to put their warm clothes on, except for Will, Beverly, Brian and Jimmy.

"We can't all go there. It will look suspicious," Jimmy whispered. "Listen, Brian and I will go with everyone and tell Jack some stuff. You two can stay here and look. Alright?"

Will and Beverly nodded.

"All cool then. See ya!" 

With that, Brian and Jimmy left. Will and Beverly hid in the bedroom.

"Hey Jack! Will lost his hat, he will catch up later!" Will heard Brian say.

"Fine then. I hope he doesn't take long!" Jack answered.

Footsteps. Then, silence.

"Now!" Beverly said.

They crept out of the room. Luckily, Jack forgot to lock his office.

"Can you please stay on the lookout?" Will asked Beverly. "If you hear footsteps, just yell "Hey Will, here is your hat!" or something. Is it OK?"

Beverly nodded and stood near the door.

Will ran into the office. He quickly looked over the shelves. "Art", "Maths"... Oh, here it is! "Writing".

The boy grabbed the pack of notebooks and put them on the table. Then, he took the candy wrapper with the message out of his pocket.

"Alright. Who are you?" Will whispered, opening the first book. "Abigail Hobbs".

The letters on the wrapper were small, neat and rounded. Abigail wrote in long, edgy letters. So, that wasn't her.

"Reba McClane". Writing past the lines. Not her either.

"Freddie Lounds". Will was really surprised to see crooked letters of different sizes inside. A complete opposite of what he was looking for. No, not her, he had to admit.

"Will Graham". Skip...

"Beverly Katz". Will felt guilty opening her notebook. The letters were nice, but still really different from the ones on the note. No, of course it's not Beverly.

"Alana Bloom". Hmm... neat, rounded letters. Could it be Alana?...

The next notebook was really familiar to Will. The cover said "Hannibal Lecter".

Will opened it. Hmmmm... He knew these letters, he saw them nearly every day. Beautiful handwriting, slightly cursive.

Will took a look at the note again. There was no sign of cursive there. But, for some unknown reason, Will felt a slight tug of suspicion. He tried to brush it aside. Seriously, why would it be...

"Oh GOD, Will! Your hat is right here!" Beverly shouted.

Oh no. Oh no, no, NO!

Will quickly stacked the notebooks and shoved them back onto the shelf. Then, he ran out of the office and straight to the bedroom. It's a good thing he did leave his hat on his bed, just in case.

Will put his hat on and went back to the learning area. Beverly was there, talking with the person who entered the room. It turned out to be... Hannibal?

"Jack sent me to ask if you are going come outside at all," he explained. "If you hurry up, you can participate in snowball battle. Jack is going to divide us into two teams. The one that wins is going to get ice cream for dessert."

"Count me in!" Will grinned, putting his coat on. Beverly followed his example.

***

The snowball battle turned out to be a lot of fun. Jack divided the kindergartners into two teams. Will was in the same one as Hannibal, Beverly, Abigail, Alana and Frederick. As it turned out, Abigail was very good at throwing snowballs. When she chose someone to be her target, she never missed. Meanwhile, Freddie decided to attack Will and Hannibal in particular. She chased them around, throwing snowball after snowball. 

"Freddie, stop that!" Alana shouted, hitting her with a ball of snow.

Despite Freddie's hard work, Will's team was the winner, thanks to Abigail and Will's and Hannibal's secret plan. When the fight was at its hottest, they crept behind the opposing team and attacked from behind. 

Ice cream was promised to the whole team.

"I wonder what flavour it will be," Hannibal said to Will. "I hope it's vanilla."

"Well, who knows," Will shrugged. "Anyways, high five!"

"High five," Hannibal smiled.

***

"Come on. Just one more minute and we would be winners!" Brian said.

Will chuckled and shared his ice cream with him.

"OK, thanks, but never mind the ice cream. Have you found anything out?" Brian asked.

"Yes, tell us right now or I'll explode from curiosity," Jimmy said eagerly. 

"Um," Will paused. "Well, I found out that it's not Freddie. You were right, Bev."

Beverly grinned and gave them all the biggest "I-told-you-so" look.

"Not Reba either. And not Abigail. So, you were wrong about her, Brian."

"Fine, fine. We know who didn't send the note. How about who _did_?" Brian asked.

"From what I've seen so far - Alana, maybe? Her handwriting is similar to the one on the wrapper. But I didn't see her at Halloween, so I'm not sure."

"Well, it could be Alana..." Jimmy nodded slowly. "Anyone else?"

"I think, no," Will said. He decided not to tell anyone about his suspecting thoughts about Hannibal. They were unreasonable, really. 

But once again. Where did he see the exact handwriting before?

***

"Alright. Jack asked me to discuss something with you," Mrs Crawford started her class.

"What? Does he think we need more McDonald's stupid farm?" Will thought, annoyed already.

"You are going to perform on the last school assembly this term. Is this right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Please, not the hokey pokey in front of the whole school," Will thought.

"Jack asked me if I could teach you a nice dance. I told him I can. I've already chosen your dance. Firstly, you need to pick yourself a partner..."

Everyone moved closer to their best friends, when suddenly Mrs Crawford stopped them.

"No, no. Sorry. I forgot to tell you, the pairs have to be "girl and boy"."

Someone groaned.

Will and Hannibal, who were already standing a step away from each other, exchanged miserable looks.

"Alright, I will pick your partners. Francis and Reba, you can be together. Abigail and Jimmy."

Abigail shrugged.

"Freddie and Frederick, Brian and Beverly..."

Will sighed. If Hannibal wasn't an option, he at least hoped to dance with Beverly.

"Will, you can be Alana's partner."

Will felt relieved. Alana was also a nice person.

"And Hannibal and Bedelia. And now, everyone from a line! Stand next to your partner."

Mrs Crawford showed them a video of the dance. Will tried his best to remember the movements. 

"Now, turn to your partner. Clap your hands! And high five your partner with both hands!.."

Will looked at Alana with dismay. Surprisingly enough, Alana smiled at him.

"Come on, Will! You can do it!" she whispered.

Will slightly smiled in return. At least Alana wasn't laughing at him.

***

"That's enough for us for now. There is five minutes of class left. You can either dance any dance you want, or sit on the chair and have some cookies," Bella announced at last.

Will fell into the chair with relief. Alana joined him.

"Thank you for not making fun of me," he grinned.

"Why would I?" Alana said, surprised. "Nobody gets something right at the first try. I am sure that you will dance excellently after some practice!"

Will gave her a warm smile.

"Well, if you say so..."

Then, they decided to read Alana's new book, "The Jungle Book", after the class ends. Alana said that it was a very good book, with interesting stories and large pictures.

Will listened to her talking, and looked at the people who were still dancing. Brian and Beverly were doing some crazy dances of their own creation. Will moved his gaze to Hannibal and Bedelia. They were spinning in something like a waltz. It felt like they knew each other's movements ahead. Whenever Hannibal made a step forward, Bedelia made a step backwards. Bedelia slightly moved to the side - and Hannibal went the same way. "Now, this is the real dancing," Will thought.

Suddenly, he felt sad. He will never be able to dance like that, he knew it. And Bedelia was better than him in many things, honestly. She was good at art, and music, and she never ever said that 2 plus 7 equals 8, like Will did sometimes. What if Hannibal will realise that Bedelia is a better friend than he is? What if Hannibal wouldn't want to be his friend anymore?

"Hey, Will! Hear that. So, I was like, "Abigail, I can dance all fine, as long as you don't step on my feet." And she was like, "Says a person who can't dodge snowballs!" Ha, ha! You should have heard that... Will, are you OK?"

Oh. It was probably Jimmy.

"Yeah," Will said.

"Are you sure? You look like you ate a lemon."

"Yes, I'm sure."

Jimmy shrugged.

"Just so you know, the bell already went."

***

Even Alana noticed his bad mood.

"What's wrong! You aren't even reading."

"I am..."

Alana thought for a moment and frowned.

"Will, are you sad because you didn't get to dance with a friend?"

"No, why? You are my friend, right?" Will told her. Seriously, this was not the reason.

"Then tell me what's wrong."

Will sighed and decided to tell her the truth.

"I think Hannibal doesn't want to be my friend anymore."

Alana looked at him with pure confusion.

"Just because he danced with Bedelia once? I doubt it."

"No. I mean... why is he my friend? I can't draw well, or play any instruments, or dance. Why?"

"He likes to spend time with you. I don't know why, but he really does. You should've heard him sometimes. Will this, Will that." Alana snorted. "And trust me, everyone here wants to be your friend! Except Frederick, maybe."

Will grinned at her. He did feel better now.

"Thank you," he said. "So, what happened to Mowgli next?"

 


	7. Boat Making and The Special Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second part is here! ^_^ It accidentally got super long, ha ha. I hope you enjoy it :)  
> Beware: lots of fluff. Also some Hannibal's POV.  
> By the way, I have no idea about how toy boats are made. I used this video as a reference: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Homemade-Toy-Boat-with-DC-Motor/ Sorry for any incorrections :)

The days went on. Will noticed that he shouldn't have been sad about Hannibal. He still asked Will to sit next to him in class, and they often made something cool together. Paper snowflakes, for instance. Hannibal taught Will how to cut beautiful shapes out of paper, and the snowflakes were truly stunning. Another time, he showed Will how to fold small paper Santas.

"This is called "origami"," Hannibal explained.

"That's so cool! Where did you learn that?" Will wondered.

"My aunt Lady Murasaki taught me. She visited us last summer. She is from Japan, and so is origami."

"Wait a second... Your grandma is Lithuanian, and your aunt is Japanese? You have relatives all over the world!" Will said in amazement. "How cool is that?"

"It's awesome, really," Hannibal smiled slightly. "But sadly, we don't get to see each other often."

"Oh," Will said. He decided to change the topic. "By the way, how is Mischa?"

"She is all right," Hannibal grinned. "Recently, she learned to say my name. However, "Hannibal" is too long for her, so she just calls me "Hanni"."

"Hanni? Hah, that sounds cute," Will smiled. He tried to imagine what it could look like. Hannibal comes home after school, and is greeted by cheerful "Hanni"'s from his sister. Maybe, having a younger sister is a good thing.

***

Christmas, Will's favourite holiday, was almost here. Now, even regular dance practices at school didn't make him sad. Soon, it will be 25th of December! And that means his grandparents will come to visit. His dad will get a holiday, which means he won't have to stay in his boat repair shop until late. Isn't that great?

This year Will decided to give presents not only to his family, but also to his friends. They are his first and best friends, after all. But what to give them?..

Will paced back and forth in his room, thinking hard. Hmm... What do they like? Beverly, Jimmy and Brian are keen on cars. However, he won't be allowed to buy cool toy cars for them, and there was no point in getting cheap ones.

Then, suddenly, Will had an idea.

He got dressed and left the house. Turning around the corner, Will went down the street until he reached a large wooden house which looked like a shed. This was the repair shop where his dad worked.

Will quietly opened the door and walked in. A strong smell of oil, paint and rust hit his nose. Boat parts and tools lied on every surface. In one of the corners, there was his father, fixing something.

"Who is it now?" he barked, turning around. "Oh. Hey, Will!"

"Hi, dad," Will said, sitting down on an old wooden chair.

"Can you lend me a hand here? The engine is horrible, and has to be fixed by tomorrow," dad said.

Will moved his chair closer.

"What should I do?"

"Well, to begin with, pass me that screwdriver."

Will nodded, and they got to work. The boy kept passing tools and parts of engine to his dad, while he worked and muttered something about "rotten cheap crap" and "idiots who go boat-travelling in winter".

Finally, the job was done.

"Well, thanks," dad grinned. "And now, what did you want to tell me?"

"Um, I want to make small toy boats for my friends," Will said. "The ones that can actually move in water. But I don't know how."

"Ha, that's easy. Come here," dad said.

He cleared his desk and set several boxes with small details there. Then, he found a sheet of paper in one of the drawers and showed it to Will.

"This is a plan of the simplest motorboat. And what do you think is the main part of it?"

"The engine," Will answered.

"Exactly. Thanks to it, the boat can move. However, I think this kind of engine will be too powerful for a toy boat. We will need something more simple than that..."

 Dad went through one of the boxes and found a tiny engine with wires attached to it.

"This one should do," he smiled.

"Wow, that's cool!" Will said. 

With his dad's help, Will attached the engine to a propeller made out of a bottle cap and flat wooden sticks. Then, he glued the construction to a piece of foam plastic. He attached a battery holder to the same piece and connected the wires. Dad helped him to set the switch correctly. Finally, they made a wooden boat and put the base inside it. The first boat was ready!

"Well, here it is," dad said. "Now we should go and have some dinner. You can test the boat at home."

"Thanks, dad!" Will grinned happily. He decided to give the boat to Beverly. If it works fine, of course.

At home, after dinner and being told off by mum because he left the house without warning her, Will filled an empty flower pot with water and set the boat there. And it was working well! Yay!

The next three days were pretty much the same. Will would come to the boat repair shop, help his dad to fix a boat, and then make presents for his friends. Soon, the four boats were ready. Will even put small thread nets inside them. The nets were filled with candy. Several toffees for Beverly, some gummy bears for Jimmy and Brian. Hannibal's boat was extra special. It was bright red, with a white stripe on the side. Will even asked mum to buy some chocolate seashells for Hannibal's net. The gifts were really perfect! Will couldn't wait to give them to his friends.

After that, he still came to his dad's workplace often. It was because Will wanted to know more about boats, and to help his dad.

***

And finally, The Very Special Day came. The last day of school this year. Which means today will be The Terrible Horrible Assembly with dances. And after it, a party! Jack promised a small Christmas party for all kindergartners, with cake and all that.

Will got up early and put his dress clothes on: a white shirt and black pants. He packed the boats into his backpack and left to the kindergarten with his mum. The boy had no idea that the day is going to be much more special that he thought.

***

It all started when suddenly, Alana didn't show up at school at all. Will decided to ask Jack about her.

"Alana has a cold. She won't come today," Jack said.

"Oh," Will sighed. "Poor Alana."

At first, he was sad that he had no one to dance with now. Then, he realized that maybe, he won't have to dance at all. That cheered him up slightly.

The assembly was going to be in the afternoon, so Mrs Crawford practiced the dance with them in the morning. The practice was nearly cancelled because the sound system wasn't working. As it turned out, somebody pulled the plug out and lowered the volume to zero. Actually, after the first dance practice, something always went wrong with the others. Once, Mrs Crawford couldn't find the music CD. Next time somebody hid the paper which said who dances with whom. And two days ago, Mrs Crawford's shoes mysteriously disappeared before the lesson. The poor lady had to teach the class in her socks.

Will totally knew who was the reason for all this. The person who gave him candy, for sure.

However, Will was more than happy with the dance practice today. Since he had no partner, Mrs Crawford let him sit on a chair and draw quietly. Will drew his new imaginary world, where everything was made out of clouds. He didn't even notice straight away when Hannibal came to sit by.

"What are you drawing, Will?"

"It's my new world. Everything there is made of clouds. Houses, and trees, and animals. Everything."

"I like it," Hannibal smiled.

Will smiled back.

"Thanks. Why aren't you dancing?"

"I don't feel like it," Hannibal said.

Will was slightly surprised, but didn't say anything about it.

The boys talked about clouds and drawing until the class ended and it was time to go outside.

It was sunny and cold. The frost pinched Will's cheeks, and he rubbed them with his hands. That's when he noticed that he left his gloves at home. Wow. Great news. Now he couldn't even build a snowman with Beverly, Jimmy and Brian without freezing his hands off.

"You can wear my gloves," Hannibal suggested.

"Your hands will get cold," Will objected.

"I have an extra pair." 

Hannibal pulled his gloves off his hands and offered them to Will. He shook his head. Then, Hannibal just took Will's hands and pulled the gloves onto them. They turned out to be incredibly warm, and provided a snug heat for Will's frozen fingers.

"Thank you," Will smiled. "But now _your_ hands will freeze. Where is your extra pair?"

"At home," Hannibal grinned innocently, and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his coat.

Will rolled his eyes and laughed.

"That's what I thought."

Suddenly, he heard someone yell.

"Ouch!"

Will turned around. Bedelia was sitting on the ground, rubbing her knee.

Jack ran up to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. I just slipped on some ice," she explained.

"Can you walk?"

"Of course," Bedelia nodded. She stood up and tried to take a step forward, but cringed with pain and nearly fell down again.

"Will, Hannibal, please take her to the nurse," Jack sighed.

***

The nurse checked Bedelia's leg, and said that it was nothing serious. She will be able to walk in a couple of days.

"But Mr Brown! How am I supposed to dance at the assembly?" she protested.

"It's best if you do it while sitting down," Mr Brown replied.

Bedelia looked far from happy.

"It looks like we both have no partner," Will whispered to Hannibal.

Hannibal looked at him with an expression Will couldn't read.

"Maybe," he answered.

***

Will thought that more than enough unusual things happened today. But, as it seemed, there was still more to come.

After nap time, he found a gift under his pillow. There were several fruit toffees there, and a paper card. It was handmade, and very beautiful. On one side, there was a deer in a winter forest. Will flipped the card over. The other side said: "Merry Christmas, Will!". Nothing more. No name, no more drawings.

"Hmm. This means it's not Alana. She is not here today," Beverly noticed.

Will took the sheet with everyone's names on it and crossed Alana out. Now there were only four names left. Francis, Frederick, Bedelia and Hannibal.

"Ha! We are close to finding it out. Soon, we will know who this is!" Jimmy said.

"Yes," Will nodded. "And we are looking for someone who can draw well, too."

Actually, he loved the card. He decided to put it on a wall in his room.

***

The children went behind the stage to get ready for their performance. When Mrs Crawford found out that two children were not dancing at the assembly, she let out a sad sigh.

Will, on the other hand, was gleeful. Instead of dancing, he could just sit and talk with Hannibal! That was probably the best ca...

"Hannibal, Will, please dance together! Three pairs is simply too few!"

Wait. A. Minute.

What?!

Will felt very nervous. He couldn't even dance! What will Hannibal think of him? Especially after dancing with Bedelia.

"Sure, Mrs Crawford," Hannibal said.

Will turned to look at him. Hannibal looked... happy?

"Hannibal, I am not good at dancing. We didn't even practice together!" he muttered.

"Calm down, Will. It will be fine," Hannibal smiled. "You remember the movements, right?"

Will nodded.

"Then everything will be great."

Will opened his mouth to say something. Then, suddenly, somebody on the stage said:

"Now, we will start our last assembly this year. The kindergarten students will start it with their performance!"

Will swallowed and went to the stage. Now, he just had to do the thing. 

It started like all the practices. Clap your hands two times. High five your partner with both hands three times. Stomp your feet. Turn around...

Then, he was supposed to take his partner's hands and spin them together.

Will felt scared. With Alana, something often went wrong. He could step on her foot by accident, or she would bump into him when he forgot a movement. If the same thing happens now, he will embarrass himself and Hannibal in front of the whole school. Cheers.

Hannibal, however, calmly took Will's hands in his, and they went around together. And then, it all became so much easier. Hannibal stepped forward - Will stepped backwards. Hannibal took a step sideways - Will did the same. It wasn't so hard, after all. He even started to enjoy the experience.

Then, the music stopped, and the dance was over. Everyone cheered and clapped. That was it. The Horrible Assembly Dance was now over. And it wasn't so horrible, really.

Will, Hannibal and all the other children went backstage again. Will noticed that Hannibal was still holding his hand.

Beverly ran up to Will.

"Pheww! Finally, it's all over! Brian nearly squashed my feet flat... And you two, you did so great! I saw it."

"Thank you!" Will grinned.

He turned to Hannibal. The boy beamed at him.

Then, Will and Beverly went to Jimmy and Brian, and Hannibal left to talk to Bedelia.

First thing first, now that there was time, Will gave the boats to Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. He brought his backpack to the backstage room before the performance to do that.

"Wow! It's so cool!" Brian said, turning the boat in his hands.

"Can they actually float?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes. They work very well. I made and tested them myself, so trust me," Will smiled.

The other three stared at him.

"YOURSELF?!"

"You really _actually_ made them yourself?"

"Well, my dad helped me," Will added.

"Still, that's like, super cool!" Beverly said.

"Awesome!"

"Crazy!"

Brian and Jimmy high fived Will, and Beverly gave him a quick hug.

Will smiled warmly. After all, the gifts turned out to be great!

He decided to give the boat to Hannibal later, at the party. He thought it would be a better moment.

***

Hannibal sat down next to Bedelia. She rubbed her knee again and smiled slightly.

"How was the dance?"

"It was awesome," Hannibal grinned.

"Ha, ha. So I've thought. Is it because of Will?" Bedelia raised her eyebrow.

"Well, yes," Hannibal nodded.

Bedelia rolled her eyes slightly.

"Hannibal. I know that you want to spend a lot of time with Will, but don't forget the fact that he has other friends! And actually, so do you."

"But Will is my _best_ friend!" Hannibal pointed out.

"Hmm. Does Will also think so?" Bedelia narrowed her eyes.

"I think he does."

"And will he still think so when he finds out that _you_ are hiding candy under his pillow?"

Hannibal looked at her, feeling slightly shocked.

"How did you find out?"

"It was easy, actually. My bed is next to Will's, so I heard that somebody is secretly giving him stuff during nap time. Then, you asked me about the hair accessories. Several weeks later, Frederick wakes up with an... amusing hairstyle. So, I just added all of this up."

Hannibal paused in thought, thinking about what to tell her. Will Bedelia tell someone on him? What is he going to do he do in that case?

"I won't tell anyone, because we are friends," Bedelia continued. "However, Will is going to find out eventually. What are you going to do then?"

"I already have a plan," Hannibal answered, feeling relieved. He knew that Will won't find anything out yet. He doesn't have enough clues.

Bedelia rolled her eyes again.

"I see. And now, could you please help me to go back to the classroom? I don't think I can do it myself."

Hannibal nodded and helped her to get up. Actually, it's good that Bedelia knew his secret now. He needed her to help him, just a little bit.

***

When Hannibal and Bedelia came to the classroom, the party had already started. The sound system was playing "Jingle Bells", and everyone was having a good time. Some children were eating, some were dancing, others were just talking and laughing.

Hannibal led Bedelia to a chair by the snack table. She poured herself some lemonade, her favourite drink. Since Bedelia didn't need his help anymore, Hannibal decided to look for Will. However, there was no need to look. Will found him himself.

"Hannibal, can we talk in private?"

"Of course," Hannibal nodded. He didn't show it, but he was slightly worried. Why does Will want to talk in private? What if he found out... no. It was unlikely. Perhaps, some good news then?

Will and Hannibal slipped to the bedroom and closed the door.

"So, um." Will said quietly. "I wanted to give you a Christmas present."

Will gave Hannibal a gift box, which was clumsily tied with a ribbon. So, that's why he wanted to talk in private! Hannibal felt excited now, and not worried at all.

"Thank you, Will."

Hannibal took the box and untied the ribbon. Inside, there was a small toy boat, red with a white stripe on the side. Hannibal carefully took it from the box and examined it. It was really a beautiful boat.

"I made it myself," Will whispered. "My dad helped me a little bit, but other than that..."

Wait a second. Will made it himself? Will actually spent his time to make a nice, handmade present for him? 

If the day was great so far, now it was simply awesome. If Hannibal wasn't Hannibal but somebody else, he would have jumped from happiness, and hugged Will tightly and never let him go.

However, Hannibal was pretty much himself, so he just smiled widely at Will.

"It's such a beautiful gift. Thank you."

"Take a look inside it. There is something else."

Hannibal took a peek into the boat. There was a small net there, and inside, there were...

"Are those seashell chocolates?"

"Well, yeah. You said that they are your favourite. At Halloween, remember?" Will said.

"Will, this is the best gift anyone has ever given me," Hannibal beamed at him.

Will's eyes went wide.

"Oh, come on. You probably got better stuff."

Hannibal shook his head.

"I am telling only the truth."

Will smiled shyly, and his cheeks went slightly pink. Was he blushing? Hannibal thought of how cute Will was, and had nearly forgotten about something important.

"I also have something to give you for Christmas."

Hannibal spent the whole last evening making gifts for Will. It would be such a shame to bring two of them back home.

He opened his bag and took a box of homemade gingerbread biscuits out of it. There was also a card inside the box, which Hannibal made himself. He even wrote Will a nice greeting on the back.

"Thank you," Will said quietly, taking the box into his hands.

"I hope you like it," Hannibal grinned. 

"Is it alright if I open it at Christmas? I always open my Christmas gifts on 25th, no matter when I got them," Will asked.

"As you wish," Hannibal answered.

Then, he remembered something else. Good, but also quite sad. Still, he had to say it.

"I will miss you during the holidays, Will."

"So will I," Will nodded. He sat down on his bed. "Actually, we can still meet during the holidays! We can go ice skating, or play in the park..."

Hannibal shook his head.

"No. We can't."

"What? But why?" Will looked quite upset, and even scared. Hannibal wondered why.

"Tomorrow, I am going to Lithuania with my family. My grandma is holding a large Christmas dinner this year. A lot of relatives will come there. My aunt Lady Murasaki, and my cousin Chiyoh. Even my uncle from Italia, I think. We will probably stay there for a month," Hannibal explained.

Will sighed, relieved.

"Oh.. I get it, then. I thought that maybe, you didn't want to be friends with me anymore..."

So, _that's_ why he looked scared. Hannibal definitely did not expect that.

"No, of course not! Why would you think of that?" he said, completely bewildered.

Will didn't say anything. He just stared at the wall for a while. Then, he stood up, came up to Hannibal and hugged him.

Wait. 

Will. Is. Hugging. Him?!

Hannibal stopped holding his emotions back, now. He wrapped his arms around Will, pressing him to himself. 

They stood just like that for a while, neither wanting to break the hug. Then, a voice came from the classroom.

"Will, where are you? Your mum came to pick you up!"

"Oh," Will whispered. "I think I have to go."

He broke the hug reluctantly and went to get his bag and the box of biscuits. 

"Have a good holiday! And come back soon," Will said, standing near the door.

Hannibal took a look at him. Adorable Will, with his curls and smile, and a beautiful soul. Yes, he will definitely miss him a lot.

"I will," Hannibal answered. "See you soon, Will!"

"Bye, Hannibal!" Will grinned. With that, and a wave goodbye, he left.

And Hannibal stayed in the bedroom, alone. He sat down on his bed and took the new boat into his hands. Hannibal looked at it and thought about Will, and the upcoming Christmas. Soon, he will have to go home, too. But not now. Not right now.

 


	8. Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone ^_^ Thank you, once again, for your kudos and comments :) Here is another chapter, I hope you like it.  
> For this chapter, I researched on Lithuanian Christmas customs and traditions. Sorry about any inaccuracies. Hannibal's message was translated by Google, so, might not be very accurate either.  
> There isn't a lot of Hannigram in this chapter, because well, Hanni is away. However, there is still something :)

On 24th of December, bright rays of winter sun woke Will up. The boy muttered something and turned over, covering his head with a blanket. He almost fell asleep again, when suddenly, he realized something. It was Christmas Eve!

Will climbed off the bed and looked out of the window. Yesterday, there was a huge storm, and Will couldn't even go the boat repair shop to help his dad. Today, however, it was sunny, and the ground was covered with a blanket of fluffy snow. Will decided to go out for a walk later.

After breakfast, Will and his mum decorated the house. Will climbed to the attic and found a large dusty box there. It was full of Christmas decorations, and everything they needed was here. Mum hanged the decorations high on the walls, where Will couldn't reach. The boy put the wreath on the door and put paper Christmas trees and reindeer all around the house. Will decorated his own room with the snowflakes and Santas he made with Hannibal, and the card he found under his pillow went above his bed.

Will wondered what Hannibal was doing at the moment. Was he helping his grandma to make Christmas dinner? Or decorating his home, like Will was doing at the moment? Or maybe, he was playing with his cousin, Chiyoh? How old is she, anyway? Will decided to ask Hannibal when he comes back from Lithuania.

His thoughts were interrupted by his mum.

"Will, could you please go to the bakery? We need some mince pies and apple pie. Here, take the money and go."

"Alright, mum," Will nodded.

The boy got dressed and went outside. It was quite warm - there wasn't even any wind. Whistling "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" happily, Will went to the bakery across the street.

He really loved the small shop. It always smelled deliciously of fresh bread, and Mrs Foster, the baker, was always happy and kind to Will. Sometimes, she even gave him cookies and pastry for free.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs Foster!" Will grinned, coming inside.

The woman behind the counter smiled at him.

"Hi, Will! What would you like today?"

"Mince pies and some apple pie, please," Will said.

"Wait a minute, the mince pies are still very hot, I just got them out of the oven... Molly! Don't touch that, you will burn yourself!"

Molly, Mrs Foster's little daughter, took a step back from the hot tray. Well, maybe she wasn't _that_ little, but Will was two whole years older than her!

Mrs Foster took two pretzels from the counter. She gave one to her daughter, and the other to Will.

"Wait here for a moment, please," she smiled at him. "I need to get the bread out."

Mrs Foster left to the kitchen.

Will sat down on a chair and took a bite off his pretzel. It was really tasty, still warm from the oven.

Then, somebody took a seat next to him. Will raised his head to look at them.

"Abigail?" he said, surprised.

Yes, it was Abigail indeed. She was wearing large woolly hat and scarf, and in her hands, there was a grocery bag.

"Where's Mrs Foster?" she asked.

"She is in the kitchen," Will answered. "Would you like some pretzel?"

He broke a chunk of pretzel off and offered it to the girl. She nodded and took it.

"So... what are you going to buy?" Will asked, chewing the pastry.

"Cookies," Abigail said. She looked quite sad.

"Are you OK?'' Will asked.

"Yeah. I just want to go caroling with my friends, but my dad won't let me," Abigail hissed.

"But... he let you trick-or-treat, right?"

"Of course! He went with us that time. And now, I want to go without grown-ups. Even Francis is allowed to..."

Will sighed.

Then, a tall man entered the bakery. He walked straight to the two children.

"Abigail, what's wrong? Why is it taking so long?"

"Mrs Foster is in the kitchen," Abigail said. "Wait a bit, dad. Also, maybe you will let me go ca..."

"No. You are too young," the man, who turned out to be Abigail's father, shook his head.

Abigail bowed her head sadly.

Then, Will had an idea.

"Mr Hobbs, let her go caroling, please! I can look after her," he said.

Mr Hobbs snorted.

"You are too young yourself, boy. Who can you protect?"

"Anyone, actually! And it won't be just the two of us. Freddie and Francis will come, too. Nothing bad will happen to Abigail, I promise!"

Mr Hobbs paused to think.

"Well, fine, go," he finally said. "But Abigail, you have to be home by six. Alright?"

Abigail nodded. She looked much happier now.

***

They decided to meet at 5 pm near the bakery.

Will returned home with the fresh baked goods. Before he went caroling, he needed to wait for his dad to come home, so they can set the Christmas tree together. On Christmas Eve, he finished his work earlier than usual.

Will really loved decorating the Christmas tree. They had a box of different decorations for it, and some of them were really old. Will knew, at least, that the reindeer dusted with golden glitter used to be his grandma's. They were his favourite. Sometimes, Will liked to imagine little Grandma, decorating her Christmas tree with these deer. 

Will sat down on the floor, looking through the decorations and waiting for his dad to return home.

***

Meanwhile, in Lithuania, it was almost night. Well, it was dark for a long time by now, because it was winter. The Christmas Eve dinner, held by grandma Aurelija, was almost over. Hannibal was eating a piece of cranberry pudding, smiling happily. Even though, traditionally, meat and dairy weren't allowed at the table tonight, the food was really delicious. Especially the pudding, Hannibal thought to himself.

At the head of the table sat grandma Aurelija. At the moment, she was telling everyone Lithuanian Christmas stories. Next to her, there was an empty chair, for grandpa Lucas. Or, his soul, actually. He passed away before Hannibal was born, so Hannibal never knew him, and only saw him on photos. However, he knew that every Christmas Eve, grandpa Lucas's soul was dining with them.

Finally, grandma said:

"Alright, I think it's time for us to finish dinner. Hanni and Chiyoh, you should join Mischa in the world of dreams. By that I mean, it's bed time for you two. As for the rest of us, we shall leave for the Midnight Mass."

Hannibal stood up and thanked everyone for dinner. Then, he joined his cousin outside the kitchen.

Before turning to go to his bedroom, Hannibal remembered something.

"Um, Chiyoh? May I please borrow your phone?"

"What for?" Chiyoh asked.

"I need to call my friend."

The girl thought for a bit, and passed him the phone.

"OK, but don't take too long. I'll come to take it back in twenty minutes."

With that, they turned to go to their rooms.

Hannibal looked out of the window. He watched as the adults got inside their cars, setting off to the town nearby. One day, he will go to the Mass too. Now, however, he was too young for that. Also, he had some other plans for tonight.

A while ago, Hannibal saw Mrs Graham's number in his mother's contacts and memorized it. Today, this information will find its use. Of course, it was awesome to celebrate Christmas with family. Still, Hannibal really missed Will. If he was in America at the moment, he would definitely visit him today.

Hannibal sat down on the edge of his bed and dialed the number from Chiyoh's phone.

Long beeps followed the action. One... two... three...

"Hello?" a lady's voice said.

"Hello, Mrs Graham."

"Who is calling?"

"It's me, Hannibal. Do you remember me?"

Mrs Graham took a while to reply.

"Oh, you are Will's friend, are you?"

"Yes. May I please talk to him? I would like to wish him a Merry Christmas."

"Yes, of course!"

Hannibal heard Mrs Graham telling Will to come over. He smiled, waiting.

***

"Will! Someone wants to talk to you!"

Will stopped digging through the box and gave his mum a confused look.

"Is it grandma?"

Mum laughed.

"Oh yes. A very young grandma, still a boy, to be honest."

Will gave her another questioning look before taking the phone.

"Hi?"

"Hello, Will!"

Will's eyes went wide in surprise.

"Hannibal? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me."

Will grinned happily.

"I see. How are you? What's up?"

"All is good. I am about to go to bed."

"To bed?" Will said, surprised. "It's 3:30!"

"In Lithuania, it's nearly eleven PM now."

Will thought for a moment.

"Are you like... in the future?"

He heard Hannibal chuckle.

"No. It's called time zones. When it's day in America, it's night in Lithuania. And vise versa."

"Oh, alright," Will smiled. "So, did you have your dinner yet?"

"I did."

Then, Hannibal told him about the important Christmas Eve dinner, called Kūčios, and went through some of Lithuanian traditions along the way. Will was happy to listen.

"And after dinner, the adults leave for the Midnight Mass. The children are supposed to go to bed. I, however, decided to break this rule, and call you instead," Will could practically hear the smile in Hannibal's voice. "Well, enough about me. What have you been doing?"

Will, in his turn, told Hannibal about meeting Abigail today, and that he is going to sing carols with her later.

"We would invite you, too, if you were here," Will added quietly.

"Yes. I wish I was there, too," Hannibal said. "I miss you, Will."

Will smiled to himself.

"I do, too."

Then, there was a pause, and Will heard Hannibal talking to somebody. 

"Chiyoh came to take her phone back. I'm sorry," he heard Hannibal say. "So, now we have to say goodbye. Merry Christmas, Will!"

"Same to you. Bye, Hannibal!"

"Goodbye," Hannibal's voice sounded sad now. 

Then, he added:

"Aš tave myliu."

"Wait, what did you just say?" Will pressed the phone to his ear.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Will sighed. What could that possibly mean? And what language was that, anyway? Lithuanian? Japanese (who knows, maybe Chiyoh taught him that)? English, perhaps, but he didn't hear it properly?

The door bell rang, and Will went to open the door. It was his dad, which meant decorating the Christmas tree! Will and dad got to work, and the mysterious phrase was forgotten for now.

***

Caroling with Abigail, Freddie and Francis was a lot of fun, even through Will couldn't sing well. At least, his "Jingle Bells" turned out to be good.

"I would invite Alana to join us, too, but she's sick, and she and Freddie hate each other," Abigail said when Will was walking her home afterwards.

"Abigail... _why_ do they hate each other?" Will asked.

Abigail sighed.

"When September just began, and you weren't in our kindergarten yet, I became friends with Freddie. And one day, Alana wanted to play with us. But Freddie didn't want to. She said, "Who would want to play with a nerd like you?". And Alana said, "Well, at least I don't take photos of everyone and everything!". You know, Freddie loves photography... Well, that's how it went..."

Will nodded.

"Well, it's one secret less now," he thought.

***

Back at home, Will sat down by the window in his room and started to wait for his grandparents' car to appear on the road. They were his dad's parents. His mum's parents, as far as Will knew, lived in New Orlean and only visited them once, a long time ago.

Will put Wendigo in his lap. What will grandma bring him this year?.. Well, even if she doesn't have a gift for him this year, Will will be more than happy to see her.

Finally, an old car appeared on the road.

"They are coming!" Will shouted happily, running to the door.

The bell rang, and Will opened the door.

"Hi, Gran."

"Oh, hi, Will!" Grandma hugged Will tightly. "You've grown so much! You are such a big boy now!"

"Oh, come on, Gran. I'm only four," Will laughed.

"Well, who said four is a small number?" grandma smiled.

Will shrugged.

"Also, I know that you prefer to open all your present on 25th, but tonight it will be better if you receive your gift right now."

Grandma entered the house. Grandpa Winston followed her. And in his hands, Will saw...

"A puppy?" Will said, surprised. "You are going to give me a _live_ puppy?"

"Yes," grandma nodded. "Isn't he just adorable?"

"Meet Buster," grandpa gave Will the small spotty dog.

Will carefully took him in his hands. Buster was soft, warm and quite heavy. He turned his head and licked Will's face. The boy laughed.

"Hi, Buster. I'm Will."

"Our dog, Lucy, gave birth to him a while ago. We sold the other puppies, but this one is for you," grandpa smiled.

Suddenly, the puppy wiggled out of Will's hands and ran off.

"Hey, wait! We didn't even get to know each other yet!" 

Will set after Buster. The puppy chose to go to Will's room. The boy ran inside, afraid that the energetic pup might make a mess.

However, Buster only smelled everything, and then decided to curl up on a rug in the corner of the room.

Will grinned and sat down by the puppy, petting him.

"Alright, Buster. This is your home now."

***

The dinner followed shortly after. Of course, it wasn't as luxurious as what Hannibal had in Lithuania, but great nonetheless. Mum and dad set the table by the fireplace in the living room, and everyone made themselves cozy on the sofa and armchairs. The family talked about many different things and ate delicious turkey, mince pies and apple pie that Will bought earlier that day. From time to time, Will fed pieces to Buster, who, as it turned out, developed a taste for Christmas food.

Soon, Will felt full and very warm from the heat of the fireplace. He began to doze off in his armchair.

"Will, I think it's bed time for you. You are nearly asleep," his dad told him.

Will yawned and decided not to protest. He got up and went to his room. Buster set after him, and Will nearly tripped on him several times.

The boy climbed to the top bunk of his bed. The puppy, who couldn't get up the ladder, chose the bottom bunk. Soon, they both fell asleep.

***

Next morning, Will woke up early, when everyone was still asleep. First thing first, he went to the Christmas tree to open the presents. Buster followed him, of course.

Will picked up the box closest to him. It was a present from mum and dad. Inside, there was a set of "Hot Wheels" cars. Will saw it in a store a while ago but knew that he won't be allowed to buy it.

"Wow! Buster, look! They are so cool! I will show them to Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. And look, there are actually four cars here!"

Buster wagged his short tail.

Next present was from his grandparents. Besides Buster, of course, they gave him a colouring book about animals. And Will's stocking, which was hanged by the fireplace, was fully of candy canes.

Will decided to thank everyone when they wake up.

There was only one gift left unopened. Will went back to his room, settled the other gifts on the desk and reached for the box that Hannibal gave him.

The boy untied the ribbon and took the lid off.

A strong smell of ginger hit his nose. The box was full of crunchy, delicious gingerbread biscuits. And on the top, there was a Christmas card.

Will grabbed one of the cookies - a reindeer covered in sugary frosting - and took a bite. The sweet, spicy biscuit melted in his mouth.

Will set the box on his bed and carefully took the card in his hands. It was handmade, as Will had expected. On the front, there was a large Christmas tree, decorated beautifully. By the tree, there were two boys. Will looked at them carefully and recognized himself and Hannibal. Will was holding his plush deer, and Hannibal was holding Will's hand.

On the back of the card, there was a message.

" _Dear Will,_

_I wish you a very Merry Christmas. I hope that you like my present!_

_Best wishes,_

_Hannibal_ "

Will smiled happily. He recalled the day when he and Hannibal exchanged presents. And hugging Hannibal felt very nice, too. Why hadn't he done this earlier?... Oh. He was afraid that Hannibal will push him away. Well, that didn't happen.

Will took a look at the other card, which was placed above his bed. The card he received from the secret candy giver.

Then, suddenly, Will had an idea.

The boy climbed to the top bunk and removed the card from the wall. Then, he got down again and put both cards on the desk.

On one, there was a Christmas tree, Hannibal and himself. On there other, there was a deer.

One was drawn on cream coloured paper. The other was blue.

Will flipped the cards over. He compared the greetings on both of them. Neat, slightly cursive handwriting on one. Neat, straight letters on the other. One is written in red ink, and the other in black...

But.

Both cards were of the exact same size, with exact same curved edges... and with equally beautiful drawings. And how many people in his kindergarten could draw that well?..

Not a lot, that's right.

And that strange phrase that Hannibal said the day before... What does it mean?

"What if..." Will thought. "What if Hannibal _is_  my secret candy giver?!"

A loud sneeze followed the guess.

Will sighed.

"Buster, you really shouldn't try to smell spicy cookies."

Buster sneezed again and turned his nose away from the box.

Will sat down on the bed. Now, he had a new guess. However, he couldn't check whether it was a right one until the holidays were over.


	9. Unexpected Events

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! :) Once again, thank you for your kudos and comments ^_^ I am so, so happy that people like this fic.  
> Here is a new chapter. I hope you enjoy it :)

"Hannibal, what are you doing?" Chiyoh asked, entering Hannibal's bedroom.

Hannibal was lying on the floor, surrounded by paper and pencils. At the present moment, he was writing something down on one of the sheets of paper.

"I'm writing a letter," Hannibal answered.

"To whom, I wonder?" Chiyoh crossed her arms and took a step closer.

Hannibal said nothing, fully concentrating on his writing.

"To that friend whom you called on Christmas Eve?"

"Very possibly so. Getting a letter feels much nicer than receiving a phone call," the boy finally replied.

Chiyoh came closer still, and bent over slightly to look at the letter.

" _Dear Will..._ "

"Will? Is that his name?" the girl asked.

Hannibal turned to face her, clearly looking displeased.

"It's really rude to read letters that are not yours, Chiyoh."

Chiyoh rolled her eyes slightly and moved to sit on the bed.

""Will" doesn't sound like a Lithuanian name."

"Who said he is from Lithuania?" Hannibal raised his eyebrow.

"Oh. So _that's_ why all money on my phone is gone! It was an international call."

Hannibal shrugged and went back to his letter.

"Please, do not disturb me," were his final words for the conversation.

***

It was last Friday before the end of the holidays. Will was at home, watching Bee Movie with Brian and Jimmy. Jimmy recently saw the movie on TV, and now it was his absolute favourite.

"Will, can you please get the mail?" Will's mum asked.

"Sure," Will nodded. He put his jacket on and went out.

The mail consisted of a letter, which was probably for dad, and a small parcel. Will examined the parcel closely, because they didn't get them often. Strange enough, this one had his name on it. Who could send it to him?...

Will came back home and put the parcel on the desk in his room. Later, when his friends left, Will went to his room and opened the package. 

The parcel was from Hannibal. Will smiled as he carefully unpacked it, finding a letter and a bar of chocolate inside. The chocolate was probably Lithuanian, because Will couldn't recognize a single word written on the wrapper. He opened it and took a bite. Then, he took the letter and started to read it, eating the chocolate as he did so. He saw the neat, cursive handwriting he was so familiar with by now.

Hannibal wrote about a town fair which he visited with his family. He also explained that he was writing a letter because Chiyoh wouldn't let him use her phone anymore. Hannibal said that he misses Will and is looking forward to talking to him when he comes back.

"But when will you come back?" Will thought absently, flipping the letter. There was a drawing on the back, a garden covered in snow. It was very beautiful, just like the art on the Christmas cards.

The Christmas cards... Will went back to thinking about them. Could Hannibal really be the candy giver? Well, just a couple more days and he will check if this is a right guess.

***

On the first day of new term, Will was greeted warmly by Beverly, Jimmy and Brian. He brought his new Hot Wheels cars with him today, and they spent most of the morning playing them. Hannibal, as it seemed, was still in Lithuania.

There were, however, two new students. One, a girl with long ponytails and a bright blouse on her. She was frowning slightly. Her brother, however, was very cheerful. He had short hair which stuck out in all directions, and wore glasses.

"Margot and Mason Verger," Jack introduced them before breakfast.

Margot went to sit with Alana, and Mason joined Frederick.

"Remember, Will? A while ago, you were new, too," Beverly grinned, nudging Will with her elbow.

"Oh yeah," Will nodded. He recalled the day when he first stepped into the class, scared and worried that he will be alone. Instead, he found the best friends he'd ever had.

"By the way, has anyone seen Hannibal?" Jimmy asked suddenly, snapping Will out of his thoughts.

"He is still away, I think," Will said.

"Oh, alright," Jimmy nodded.

"Do you miss him?" Beverly asked.

"Of course. We are friends!" Will noticed. He pretended to ignore the looks the other three exchanged between themselves.

***

That day, Will could hardly wait for the nap time to come. Today was his chance to find out if he was correct. If Hannibal is away today, that means he won't get any candy. And then, the secret will be revealed!

When Will woke up, the first thing he did was to lift his pillow. Alright, so now there won't be any sweets under it, and...

"Wha...?!"

A large gummy bear lied on the bed.

Will closed his eyes and opened them. Rubbed them. Pinched his shoulder to make sure he wasn't still asleep. The gummy bear was still there.

"Hmm... time to cross Hannibal out of the list, what do you think?" Jimmy grinned.

Will didn't say anything. So... his guess was wrong? And he suspected Hannibal for nothing? It was probably an accident that the card papers looked alike. And after all, maybe Hannibal wasn't the only one who could draw well. Francis and Bedelia were fairly good, too. So was Alana, but they already crossed her out.

"Um, Will? You didn't really think Hannibal was behind it? I mean... he is so nice to everyone, right?" Brian asked.

"No, of course not," Will shook his head.

"All cool. That leaves us Bedelia, Francis and Frederick. Just three people left!" Jimmy grinned.

Will nodded, still deep in thought.

"Guys, can I ask you something?" Beverly said. "When we _finally_ find out who the candy giver is... what are we going to do next?"

"What do you mean - "what"? Tell Jack, of course. Right?" Brian replied straight away.

"Also I will punch them. For the "Peppa" thing," Jimmy added.

Will took his time to think. Of course, the candy giver did many things that were not good at all. Cutting Freddie's towel, giving Frederick a new hairstyle, painting Jimmy and Brian's faces, hiding Mrs Crawford's stuff... However, the person didn't do anything bad to Will. Actually, they were very nice to him, and gave him candy every single day. That was, to be honest, a very generous thing to do.

"Well, I dunno. It feels kinda bad to tell Jack on someone who feeds you sweets every day," Will shrugged. "Ungrateful, even."

The other three thought for a while.

"How about this. We find the person first, and then decide about the telling-Jack thing. Alright?" Jimmy suggested.

Everyone thought this was a good idea.

As for himself, Will decided that he will talk to the person in private, and thank them. Also, he would ask them why they acted that way. That was the thing Will was most curious about.

***

The week passed without any major events. The Verger twins quickly got used to everyone. Margot and Alana got along really well, and now spent a lot of time together. Will often saw them reading quietly somewhere, and joined them sometimes. 

Margot's brother, however, didn't find any friends. He found entertainment in teasing and poking other children. Sometimes, he even pinched their cheeks. Mason even pinched Will's one time, so hard that he left a bruise.

After caroling with Abigail at Christmas Eve, Will became friends with her, too. He also noticed that she always wore a scarf around her neck, even when she was inside. Will decided to ask her why, sometime in the future.

Overall, everything was good, apart from the Mason stuff. Playing with his friends, reading with Alana and Margot, talking to Abigail... All of this was a lot of fun. However, every morning, when Will came to class, he looked around for Hannibal, and was sad when he didn't see him anywhere.

Before going to sleep on Friday, he wondered how long Hannibal will stay at Lithuania. He said that it was for a month, but well, who knows? It could be longer than that.

***

Will dreamed of walking through a deep dark forest. There were no paths, nothing to point the way. But, somehow, Will knew where he was going.

He passed a large fir, climbed over a fallen trunk, turned to the right and came to a small clearing. There weren't any trees there, but there was grass, soft and wet under his feet. A swift stream was running through the clearing, shining in the moonlight. At the bank of the stream, a deer stood, drinking water.

Will took a step forward. The deer raised its head and looked at him. Then, it whispered something.

"What?" Will asked quietly.

"Will. Wake up," the deer repeated, a little louder.

"What? I am up!" Will said.

"Wake up, Will," the deer said again.

Will raised his eyebrow, confused. 

The deer jumped over the stream and walked straight to Will. It was very close to the boy now. The deer touched Will's hair with its nose, and then his shoulder.

"Will, I don't want to wake you up, but I have to."

Is it his imagination, or is the deer actually speaking in Hannibal's voice?...

***

Will woke up. The deer, the forest, and everything else disappeared. The only things left of his dream were the touch on his shoulder, and the voice.

"Will, your mum says that breakfast is ready. She asked me to wake you up."

Wait. Was he still asleep, or?...

Will opened his eyes. Yes, it was real. Hannibal was sitting on his bed, gently touching his shoulder. When he saw that Will woke up, he smiled.

"Good morning, Will."

"Hannibal?! But... how did you get there?"

"Well... we came home yesterday, and today, I asked my dad to bring me here because I really wanted to see you. Sorry for not warning you beforehand, I didn't have the opportunity," Hannibal explained.

"You are back," Will said.

Hannibal nodded.

Will grinned happily. Finally! His best friend is here again! And what's more, they can spend the entire day together.

Will sat up on the bed and moved to sit closer to Hannibal.

"So, how was your trip?"

"It was excellent. Even Mischa enjoyed it a lot," Hannibal smiled. 

"That's good," Will said. "I think we should have breakfast now. Hot eggs taste much better than cold ones, what do you think?" 

Hannibal nodded and climbed down from the top bunk. Buster ran up to him immediately, wagging his tail. Hannibal petted him.

"I see you've met Buster already," Will said as he got down, too.

"Buster? Is that his name?" Hannibal said.

"Well, yes. My grandparents gave him to me on Christmas," Will said.

"That's nice to hear," Hannibal smiled. "By the way, did you like my gift?"

"Yes, of course! The biscuits were awesome. And the card, too." Will said happily. "How do you even draw like that?"

Hannibal beamed at him in reply.

***

At breakfast, they talked a lot about many different things. They told each other about their holidays, and then Hannibal asked if anything new happened at the kindergarten while he was away.

"Well, not much," Will shrugged, putting a piece of bacon into his mouth. "There are two new kids. Twins, Mason and Margot. Other than that, I don't know."

Then, Will noticed that Hannibal was looking at his cheek, frowning slightly.

"What's wrong?" Will asked.

"You have a bruise on your cheek," Hannibal noticed. "Where is it from?"

"I dunno," Will waved his hand. He took another piece of bacon and fed it to Buster. "I can't remember."

For some reason, he didn't feel like telling Hannibal about Mason. He will find out all about him once he steps into the classroom, anyway.

***

After breakfast, the two of them decided to go outside. Will suggested the park, and Hannibal agreed to it.

Hannibal took Will's hand, and suddenly, Will realized how long they haven't walked together. Since Halloween, actually! It would be nice if they could do it, let's say, every weekend.

Soon they arrived to the park. Now, there was snow everywhere. Even the swings were covered with a layer of it. 

Will noticed that Hannibal was looking at the swings, and suddenly decided to do something. He quietly took a few steps back, and then ran up to Hannibal. He wanted to give him a hug from behind but accidentally ended up running into him. With a surprised yelp, Hannibal fell into the snow. So did Will.

"Oops. I'm so sorry. I just wanted to hug you, I didn't mean to drop you," Will murmured, sitting up on the ground.

Hannibal didn't move.

"Hey, are you hurt? I really didn't want to..."

Suddenly, Hannibal jumped up and lightly pushed Will. He fell into the snow, laughing.

"Alright, we are even now."

"Don't worry, it's all fine," Hannibal grinned. He got up and reached his hand out to Will, pulling him to his feet.

"Thank you," Will smiled. "So, what do you want to do next? Play snowballs, maybe?"

They decided at that.

***

Soon, Abigail came to the park, too.

"Hi, Will. And oh, Hannibal, are you back?"

"As you can see," Hannibal grinned, tidying his coat.

"Hm, that's good. Because Will missed you," Abigail noticed.

Will shot her a look. Hannibal, however, didn't say anything. Maybe he smiled just a little bit, but maybe it was Will's imagination.

"Would you like to join us, Abigail?" Hannibal asked,

"Of course. That's why I came here, to have fun," Abigail grinned.

And have fun they did. The three of them had a snowball fight, played tag, built a snowman and made snow angels. Will thought he could spend the whole day just like this, until his stomach rumbled and he realized that he was very hungry.

"Who wants to go to Mrs Foster's bakery and have some pastry?" Will suggested.

"Mrs Foster's bakery? Where is it?" Hannibal wondered. 

"We will show you."

Soon, Will, Hannibal and Abigail arrived to the bakery. Mrs Foster was extremely nice to them. When the three of them sat down at a table, she brought them mugs of hot chocolate and a plate with different pastries. All for free!

"Try this one," Will said, offering Hannibal an apple danish. 

Hannibal took it in his hands and carefully took a bite.

"They taste very good," he smiled.

"They do," Will said, taking another one for himself. 

When they were full, they thanked Mrs Foster and left to go home.

Firstly, Hannibal and Will walked Abigail home, so her dad wouldn't be mad at her. Abigail said that he didn't like it when she went outside alone.

After they said goodbye to Abigail, they went back to Will's home. The two of them walked slowly, holding hands. Will felt really, really happy.

"You know, we should meet up like this every weekend. What do you think?" he said to Hannibal.

"Just me and you, or with Abigail?" Hannibal asked, smiling.

"Well, it depends. Her dad doesn't always let her," Will said. "It can be just us one week, and Abigail the other... If you want too, of course."

Hannibal looked at Will in a strange way, the one Will couldn't quite place. He looked at him the same way when they talked on the last day of term, just after Will said that he thought that Hannibal didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

"No. I don't _want_ to," Hannibal said. He sounded serious, but his eyes were shining with joy.

What?! He didn't want to? Will opened his mouth to ask why, but didn't have a chance to do so. Before Will said a word, Hannibal pulled him to himself and hugged him so tightly that he could hardly breathe. Will's eyes went wide in surprise.

"I would _love_ to," Hannibal whispered, holding Will close.

"H-h-hannibal, you will suffocate me," Will laughed breathlessly, hugging Hannibal back regardless.

"Oh. I'm sorry," Hannibal said, loosening his grip a little.

"That's alright," Will smiled happily. He closed his eyes and pressed himself closer to Hannibal. "And also, Abigail said the truth. I really did miss you. And I'm so happy that you are back."

"I missed you too, Will. Very, very much," Hannibal breathed out. Will could actually feel him smiling.

Will felt something bubbling inside him, some kind of emotion that he didn't know the name of. He only knew that it was warm, and it felt very nice. At the moment, the mysterious candy giver and Mason Verger were both forgotten. Will was just really, really happy that Hannibal was back.


	10. Hannibal's Birthday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again :) 200+ kudos, omggg, how? ^_^ Thank you so much <3  
> Here is a new chapter, I hope you like it :) It's a long one, by the way.

"Well, well... Who are _you_?"

Will turned his head in the direction of the voice. Well, of course. The moment Hannibal walks into the classroom, Mason starts being rude to him.

"New, huh?" Mason asked, smirking like he wasn't new himself just a week ago.

"No. I've been here since September," Hannibal answered patiently.

"Have a name?" Mason narrowed his eyes.

"All people have names. Mine is Hannibal, if you'd like to know."

Mason laughed in his own creepy laugh.

"Fine. I'm Mason. Would you like chocolate?"

He took a wrapped piece of candy from the pocket of his jeans and gave it to Hannibal.

"Well, thank you, Mason," Hannibal said, taking the sweet. He unwrapped it and found an old eraser inside.

"Oh my god! You really thought it was chocolate? Ha! Ha! Ha!" Mason laughed loudly.

"That's very rude, Mason," Hannibal said, pursing his lips.

"Well, who said I'm polite? Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Fine! That's enough! Clenching his fists, Will walked up to Mason. 

"Get away from him! He did nothing to you!" Will shouted in the rude boy's face.

Mason's smirk became even wider.

"And who is it now? Weakling Graham? Keep up doing this and you will get another bruise."

Will clenched his fists even tighter. How much he wanted to punch Mason right into his smug face.

"Don't call Will a weakling, Mason. Just the fact that he doesn't bully people for no reason makes him stronger than you," Hannibal said calmly.

"Mason, stop that. Find yourself a better thing to do," Jack said, coming up to them.

Mason hissed something and walked away.

"So, is he the reason why you have the bruise on your cheek?" Hannibal asked.

"Well, yeah," Will shrugged. There was no point to hide it now.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"It didn't feel right. You know, telling somebody on another person..."

"Will. When somebody hurts you, you shouldn't be quiet about it," Hannibal said. He raised his hand and gently touched Will's bruise with his finger. Hannibal's lips were pursed tightly, and his eyes were very narrow. Will knew that Hannibal was very, very angry at Mason.

***

That very day, when Mason woke up after nap time, his face was covered in large purple spots.

"Why are you all laughing?!" he said.

Freddie gave him a mirror. When the boy saw his reflection, he screamed.

"He screams like a pig," Beverly whispered to Will. Will giggled and nodded.

Still screaming, Mason ran to the bathroom to wash the purple spots off.

"Now, here goes the real Peppa!" Brian laughed.

"Exactly. And the candy giver is doing that again," Jimmy noticed. "Bedelia, Francis, or Frederick?"

Will shrugged. If he didn't know for sure, he would suggest that Hannibal was behind it. He was so angry at Mason in the morning! However, Will was still getting candy when Hannibal was in Lithuania. Therefore, not him.

"Frederick, maybe?" he suggested instead, passing Beverly a piece of new-found toffee. "Remember that time when they sat together at the table? Mason poured jam all over his hair."

"Frederick's hair has one bad luck," Brian grinned. 

"Exactly," Beverly laughed. "But Jack punished Mason back then, didn't he? He wasn't allowed to play with others after lunch."

"Maybe Frederick still wants revenge," Jimmy offered.

Their discussion was interrupted as Jack entered the room.

"I have a question for you," he said. "Who drew the spots on Mason's face?"

The answer was silence.

"I know that many of you don't like Mason, but that's not a reason to do mean things to him. I will talk to him, maybe he will learn to behave better. Please, don't you guys do anything like this again."

With this, Jack left the bedroom.

"He won't stop," Will heard Margot say. "He is like this at home, too."

***

The next day, nothing happened. It wasn't because Hannibal finished his revenge on Mason. He just decided to continue next week. Firstly, the marker was permanent. Mason will have these spots for several days. And secondly, Hannibal's birthday was coming soon, and he was getting ready for it.

He has already decided whom he will invite and what they will do. Now, Hannibal was writing invitations for his guests on beautiful colourful paper, in his neatest cursive handwriting.

Will had a special invitation: Hannibal was going to invite him to stay for a sleepover. After all, he has been to Will's house two times, and Will has never been to his. And, wouldn't it be wonderful to have Will stay the night?

Hannibal finished the last sentence and folded the invitation neatly, putting it into an envelope. 

When will Will discover his secret, Hannibal wondered. Possibly, he did discover it already, but the sweets he got in Hannibal's absence led him away from his course.

Hannibal grinned. It was good that Bedelia helped him, after all.

***

"Will?"

Will stopped colouring the picture in his activity book and looked up at Hannibal.

Hannibal gave him a nice cream-coloured envelope.

"What is it?" Will asked, taking it.

"Open it, and you will find out," Hannibal said.

Will carefully opened the envelope. Inside, there was a letter. Will took it out and read:

" _Dear Will,_

_I will be happy to see you at my birthday party. It will be on Friday, 20th of January, at my home at 6 pm. After the party, you can stay for the night, if you like._

_Hannibal_ "

"Your birthday is this Friday? Oh, I didn't even know," Will slapped his forehead. "How old will you be?"

"Five," Hannibal smiled.

"Cool. I will only be five in April," Will grinned.

Hannibal nodded.

"So... are you going to come? It's fine if you don't want to..."

"Why? Of course I want to!" Will said. "I haven't been to a party before, though. And to a sleepover..."

"It's alright. Everything happens for the first time, eventually," Hannibal smiled gently.

Will smiled back.

***

"Oh, Will, you got an invitation? That's cool! So did I," Beverly grinned.

Beverly showed Will the invitation. It was quite similar to Will's, except one detail.

"Hm, you don't have an invitation to a sleepover," Will noticed.

"A sleepover?" Beverly looked at him, confused.

"Yeah. Here, have a look," Will showed her his letter.

Beverly took a while to read the cursive handwriting. After she was done, a smirk appeared on her face.

"I think you got a _special_ one..."

"Um... what do you mean?"

Beverly's eyes gleamed mischievously.

"Guess..."

"Please, not this again," Will sighed.

"Sooo... a sleepover. Pajamas, cartoons and popcorn..."

"I really doubt there will be popcorn."

"Fine. Pajamas, cartoons, cookies... It will be so cute!" Beverly grinned, a bit smug. "Will and Hannibal..."

Will rolled his eyes and pretended to ignore the rest of the rhyme. No, seriously. They were too young for this sort of thing. And. He and Hannibal are just friends! Well, okay, maybe a little tiny bit more than "just friends", but still. Just. Friends.

***

Back at home, Will sat in his room and thought about what to give Hannibal for his birthday. Buying something in a shop is expensive and boring. He already gave him a handmade boat, too. And chocolate...

Then, suddenly, Will had an idea. Hannibal seemed to love homemade bakery, and he often gave some to Will. Perhaps he should just bake something for his best friend?

The problem was that they didn't bake much at home. This is why Will hardly knew how to do it. However, he decided to give it a try. Will found a recipe book on the shelf and skimmed through it. Most recipes weren't fit for his task: chicken soup, various main courses. There also was a great fancy cake, but Will was quite sure that it's too advanced for him. At last, he found what he was looking for. Chocolate muffins! They seemed easy to make, and looked good, at least on the picture in the book.

On Thursday evening, when his mum was busy in her study and his dad was still in the boat repair shop, Will took the cooking book and went to the kitchen. He put an apron on and got to work.

Following the recipe, Will mixed all the ingredients in a bowl. The boy did his best at making the dough, and triple checked that he added sugar and not salt. Gifting Hannibal with a bunch of salty muffins was definitely _not_ his goal.

Now, it was time to put the dough into the muffin tray. Will found one in the cupboard. Despite being as careful as he could, he ended up spilling some dough onto the counter. Other than that, all went well. Will put the tray into the heated oven, burning his hand a little in the process. After he set the timer and closed the oven, Will sat down on the kitchen stool and licked the remaining dough off the spoon. It tasted very good, and Will wondered whether he should've given Hannibal a jar of the dough for a present instead.

"Buster, stop licking it from the floor!" Will laughed, when he saw his dog enjoying the dough, too.

Waiting for the muffins to bake, Will washed the dishes and the counter. And when they were baked, they turned out quite nice. A little lopsided, but delicious.

Smiling proudly to himself, Will went to his room to get a gift box.

***

The next day, at 5:30 pm, Will and Abigail met in the park to go to Hannibal's house. After Will found out that Abigail was also invited, he asked her if they could go together, and she agreed.

It wasn't a very long way to go. Twenty minutes, maybe. The house was located near the pond where Will and his dad fed ducks several times.

When the house appeared in sight, Will was amazed by how large it was. Two-story high, with plenty of windows and giant wooden front doors. Looking at the windows, Will wondered which one led to Hannibal's room.

Will walked up to the door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Hannibal asked from behind the door.

"Will and Abigail."

The door opened, and Hannibal invited them inside.

"Happy birthday, Hannibal!" Will grinned, passing the box to Hannibal. Abigail followed with her own present. 

"Thank you," Hannibal beamed. Will noticed that Hannibal looked even more well-dressed than usual. He was wearing a white shirt and dark brown waistcoat and pants. Hannibal's light hair was neatly combed, so each string of hair lied in its place. Will absently ruffled his own untidy curls.

"Well, come on in," Hannibal said. He placed both gifts onto a small table and hanged Will's and Abigail's jackets. Then, he led them to a large room where the party was going to be.

The room was beautifully decorated with flowers and balloons. In the middle, there was a place to dance. Small tables with snacks and drinks stood here and there.

As it seemed, other guests were already here. Alana and Margot were dancing, Bedelia was sitting on a chair, and Beverly was checking the snacks out. When she saw Will, she ran up to him.

"Hi, Will!" she said cheerfully.

"Hi," Will nodded.

He was still looking around the room. He spotted an old record player in the corner. It was playing classical music.

"Hannibal has a record player! Wow," Will whistled.

"Well, why not?" Beverly said.

Will shrugged.

"I wonder what Hannibal has planned for his birthday."

"Probably something cool," Beverly grinned.

And she was right. It was cool. They ate snacks, played tag and other games, had fun contests. For example, they tried to take a bite from an apple that was hanging on a piece of thread. The only rule was not to use your hands. Hannibal was the most successful in this task, and honestly, Will wasn't surprised.

Then, Abigail suggested playing hide-and-seek.

"It would be fun to play in such a large house," she explained.

Hannibal volunteered to be the seeker, and the others rushed out of the room to hide. Will ran out of the room and decided to hide upstairs. He went up the stairs and to the rooms. A door, a door, another door. Will picked this last door, went inside and shut it.

The room wasn't very large. In one of the corners, there was a chest drawer. By one of the walls, a single bunk bed, very neatly done. By the other wall - a desk so tidy that Will felt ashamed of what was happening on his own one at home. A fluffy cream carpet covered the floor, and there was a lot of drawings on the walls. There was even a piano here. Will came closer to it, looking at the drawings above it. He recognized himself on one of them, and the others were mostly landscapes. But all of them had Hannibal's name written in the corner.

Will was _in Hannibal's bedroom_.

The door behind him opened.

"Will? What are you doing here?"

Will turned around and saw Hannibal behind him. He looked quite surprised. 

"I got here by an accident," Will answered, lowering his head slightly. It wasn't exactly good manners to walk into someone's room without their permission, as far as he knew.

"It's alright. I wanted to show it to you anyway," Hannibal smiled softly.

Will raised his head and took a look at the room again.

"Your room is awesome," he said.

"Thank you, Will. I just like it when things are in their place," Hannibal smiled.

"No, seriously. Not just that. You have a _piano_!"

"Well, yes I do. I am just learning to play, so that's why I have a piano. When I grow up a little, I can play the harpsichord, like my dad."

Will came up to the piano. To be honest, he wasn't sure what a harpsichord was. He decided to Google it later.

Will sat down on the bench and tapped on the top of the piano with his fingers.

"Would you like me to teach you to play?" Hannibal offered.

"Um... I don't know if I can do it," Will murmured.

"Of course you can," Hannibal answered confidently. "Remember when we played the xylophone?"

"Yeah?"

"It's almost the same thing. Except that the sound is different, and you use fingers instead of the sticks."

Hannibal sat next to Will on the bench.

"Let's start with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"," he suggested. "It's simple, and you already know how to play it on the xylophone."

Will nodded.

Hannibal took Will by the wrists and put his hands on the piano keys.

"Now, press the "C" key. Right here, Will. Two times..."

After a short while, Will learned to play the song decently. 

"I told you, you can do it, Will," Hannibal beamed at him. 

Will smiled back.

"Which songs can you play?" he wondered.

"Well, it's not exactly songs but melodies. Songs have words, and melodies don't." Hannibal said. "To tell the truth, I can play several pieces of classical music."

"Can you play one for me? Please," Will requested, putting his best puppy eyes on.

Well, how could Hannibal say no to that?

He found a music sheet, put his fingers on the keys and began to play. Will listened and was truly amazed by how beautiful the melody was, and how quickly Hannibal's fingers moved over the keys. When he finished the piece, Will sighed.

"It's beautiful. The music, and the way you played it. Where did you learn it?"

"Extracurricular music classes. Also, I practice with my dad," Hannibal answered, looking away. Maybe he was blushing a little, and maybe it was just the light's trick.

"What is the melody called?" Will asked.

"Mozart's "A Little Night Music", first fragment."

"Hm, I've never heard of this one before. But I like it," Will smiled.

"Thank you, Will."

There was a polite cough behind them. Hannibal and Will turned around, and they saw Bedelia.

"Hannibal? Aren't we playing hide-and-seek?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We are. As you can see, I've been successful in seeking Will," Hannibal grinned.

"Well, of course," Bedelia said, and took a sip of her lemonade. "Would you like to join the rest of the company? Your mother brought birthday cake."

To be honest, Will would prefer to stay here with Hannibal, and talk about music and play piano. But, after all, they can do it during the sleepover.

"Okay," Will nodded. He took Hannibal's hand, and they left the room. Will could swear he heard Bedelia huff behind his back, but he wasn't sure why she's done that.

***

After Hannibal blew the candles on the cake and made a wish (which only he knows of), the guests slowly started to leave. Mr Hobbs picked Abigail up first, then Alana's older brother came for her and Margot. Bedelia left soon, too. Beverly was the last to go.

"Enjoy the sleepover," she winked at him, and was out.

It was just Hannibal and Will now.

First, they decided to go see Mischa in her room. Technically, Will has met Mischa before, but she was asleep that time and didn't get to know Will.

"Hello, Mischa," Hannibal said cheerfully, entering the room.

Mischa was standing in her cot, holding onto the railing. She was more grown now. The girl had light hair, just like her brother, and chubby cheeks. She was wearing a cream coloured nightshirt.

When Mischa saw Hannibal, she giggled happily.

"Hanni! Hanni!" she said. Then, she looked at Will with her big brown eyes, as if asking what this unfamiliar boy is doing in her room.

"This is Will," Hannibal said to her.

Mischa looked at Will once again.

"Wi. Will," she said.

"Yes. Will," Hannibal nodded.

The girl laughed, showing her tiny white teeth.

"You can come closer to her, if you want to," Hannibal said.

Will moved closer to the cot. Mischa gave him a surprised look, and then a mischievous one. Will wondered why.

He found out soon enough, when the little girl grabbed a handful of his curls.

"Hey, stop it," Will laughed, trying to get back. But Mischa wouldn't let go of his hair.

Then, Hannibal carefully moved her fingers from Will's curls, one by one.

"Pulling Will's hair is not good!" he told Mischa.

The girl pointed at Will, and then ruffled her hair with her hand.

"What does it mean?" Will asked.

"I think she likes your hair, Will," Hannibal smiled a little.

Will snorted.

***

Then, they actually changed into their pajamas, like Beverly thought. Hannibal let Will borrow his pajamas with a puppy pattern. It was a bit large, but Will loved it.

They sat on a sofa in the living room, and opened the box of muffins that Will gave to Hannibal. Hannibal found them very delicious, just as Will hoped he would.

Hannibal turned the TV to a geography channel, and they watched a documentary about Florence. Hannibal said that his uncle lived here.

"The city is probably even more beautiful in real life," Will said, looking at the bridges, and the cathedrals, and the museums.

"When we grow up, we can go there together," Hannibal suggested.

"Hm... That would be great," Will smiled. He curled up on the sofa, resting his head in Hannibal's lap. It was very cozy, lying like that. Will was looking at the screen, dreaming about himself and Hannibal, walking down the streets of Florence...

***

"Hannibal. Will is asleep. Maybe it's better if we take him to the guest room?"

Hannibal raised his head and saw that his dad entered the room.

"What if he wakes up?" Hannibal asked.

"If he does, what's wrong with that? He will fall asleep again straight away," dad said. "Also, you need to get some sleep too, Hannibal."

Hannibal nodded. Sitting up on the sofa all night is not the wisest decision.

Hannibal's dad took Will in his arms and took him to the guest room upstairs. Hannibal followed him.

The bed was already made for Will. Dad set Will there and covered him with the duvet.

"Well, that's it. You two can play in the morning," he smiled. "Goodnight, Hannibal."

"Goodnight, Dad."

After his dad left the room, Hannibal sat down on the edge of Will's bed. He put his hand in Will's hair, petting the soft curls. Mischa wasn't the only one who loved Will's hair, after all. Maybe it was a family thing?

Then, Hannibal gently stroked the small spot on Will's cheek, where the bruise used to be. He wished he's returned sooner. If he was in the kindergarten that day, he would have never let Mason touch Will.

Suddenly, Hannibal noticed that Will was smiling in his sleep. Probably, he was having a good dream. He looked adorable, like he always did.

"No one will hurt you. Not when I'm around," Hannibal whispered.

***

After a while, Hannibal returned to his room. Before going to sleep, he had one more thing to do.

Hannibal opened one of the drawers and took a note out. It wasn't just a regular note. It was, it fact, the one that he gave Will before Halloween.

Hannibal went downstairs, to the hall. He took Will's jacket, and hid the note in the inside pocket. Will won't find it yet, but eventually, he will.

And when he does... he will _know_.


	11. Revenge and Paper Hearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone :) Once again, thank you for all the kudos and comments ^_^ *hugs all of you*  
> So, this chapter is mostly about investigation and KBI, with not so much Hannigram. There will be more in the next chapter, I promise :)  
> I hope you enjoy this one ^_^

"What the?..."

It was Monday. Mason woke up after nap time and found a box of candy on his bedside table.

"Apologizing for the purple spots, huh?" Mason narrowed his eyes. "The one who drew them, I'm talking to you."

"In your dreams," Hannibal thought, still in his bed.

Mason opened the box. Inside, there were round brown chocolate sweets. Mason took one of them, gave everyone in the room mean looks, and popped it into his mouth.

A second later, he spat it out, cursing and wiping his tongue with his hands.

"Ew. You really need to wash your mouth, Mason," Jimmy said. Everyone laughed. It took all of Hannibal's self-control to not do the same.

He saw Will coming to Mason's bed to have a look at the candy in the box. He took one of the chocolates and squished it in his hand.

"It's plasticine," Will said. 

"Well, he deserved that, after all those eraser candies," Abigail told him.

"Plasticine?" Mason said in disgust. "Why the heck would anyone give me plasticine chocolates?!"

"Oh. I don't know, really. Certainly _not_ because you are so mean to everyone, right?" Freddie replied with sarcasm.

Mason said nothing at all. He just took the candy box and threw it in the rubbish.

***

This day, Mason didn't bully anyone. And the next, he did, but not as much as he used to. 

"Hm, maybe this candy giver is not as bad as we think," Jimmy said, scratching his chin.

"Maybe you are right," Brian nodded. "Nobody else could stop Mason from bullying."

Then, suddenly, Will had an idea.

"Look. What if this person only hurts "bad" people?" he suggested.

Beverly, Brian and Jimmy looked at him in confusion.

"Um... are Jimmy and I bad people?" Brian raised an eyebrow.

"No, no." Will shook his head. "Just look. We know about Mason. Bella didn't let us pick a dance partner - stuff happens. You and Jimmy threw popcorn in the movie theater and made fun of the movie - stuff happens. Frederick... does anyone remember what he's done?"

"I think he said that his name is the rarest or something," Brian recalled.

"Exactly. Stuff happens. And Freddie laughed at me when I fell. Stuff happens. Coincidence? I think not."

"Hm," Beverly said. "Sounds logical, but we need to check it."

"Check it? How?" Brian asked.

"Let's play paper-scissors-rock. Whoever loses gets to do something rude. We will see if anything happens to them or not," Jimmy offered.

"As I already said - Jimmy, you are a genius," Brian said, poking the other boy with his elbow.

 ***

The challenge fell on Beverly.

The next day, when Will entered the classroom, she said, in a loud and mean voice:

"Eww, Will! Why are you wearing this horrible shirt?"

"What, Beverly?" Will snorted, playing along. "It's just a normal shirt. You are kidding, right?"

"No. This shirt is _absolutely_ awful. Don't _ever_ wear it again!" Beverly answered in the same voice as before.

"Okay. I won't," Will nodded, pretending to be sad about the whole thing.

The plan worked well enough. After nap time, Beverly's own T-shirt mysteriously disappeared. Only fifteen minutes later, the KBI found it on the ceiling fan in the classroom.

"Well, now we know that Will was right," Jimmy grunted, getting up on a desk to get the T-shirt off.

"Now we know that the candy giver is good at art, hates rude people and has a nice handwriting," Beverly summed up, putting her T-shirt on. It really needed ironing, but was otherwise OK.

"And they have an unlimited source of candy," Jimmy added, grinning.

"This means it cannot be Francis!" Will realized. "He has a very strict grandma. She doesn't let him eat sweets at all. Francis doesn't have unlimited candy, he has none at all."

"Oh, I see. Poor kid," Brian nodded, walking away to get the list of names.

"Damn. I thought it was Francis, really," Jimmy sighed. "His art is really cool, especially the dragons. You know, in one of his drawings, a huge red dragon is guarding a tower with a princess. And the princess looks so much like Reba! Nice, huh?"

Will nodded.

"If it was Francis, he would give sweets to Reba, I think," he added.

"So," Beverly said. "This leaves us Frederick and Bedelia."

***

Several weeks passed. It was February now. Will happily anticipated the warm weather that was soon to come. Spring was almost here. That means no more warm clothes, and a lot of puddles. He will make small paper boats and set them into puddles, pretending that they are huge ships on an adventurous voyage. Isn't that awesome?

Now that Mason wasn't so mean to everyone, life went back to normal. Will spent a lot of time with his friends, both in kindergarten and out of it. When the weather was nice, he, Hannibal and Abigail met up in the park and played together. This was truly a lot of fun, and Will couldn't stop smiling when he returned home afterwards.

Now Will knew why Abigail was always wearing a scarf around her neck. Last spring she was playing outside, fell down and cut her neck on a piece of glass. The cut wasn't very serious, and soon Abigail was alright, but she still had a long scar on her neck. And Abigail wasn't very fond of it. That's why she covered it with a scarf.

"But what's bad about it?" Will asked. "It's just a scar."

"I just don't like it. It looks scary, you know. Everyone would start asking things. "Oh, is that a scar?", "Where did you get it?", "Oh, my god! Poor you!". I've heard enough of that from the neighbours," Abigail shrugged.

***

It was a regular Thursday morning. Everyone was in the classroom, playing and talking. Will walked in and noticed that something was different today. Jack wasn't here. At the teacher's desk, there was a young woman with light hair. She was writing something down on a sheet of paper.

"Who is this lady?" Will asked Beverly.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "Maybe she will tell us later."

And she did.

"Hi, everyone! My name is Ms Lass," the lady said after breakfast ended. "Mrs Crawford is sick, and Jack is staying at home with her. So, for today, I am your teacher."

"Oh, poor Mrs Crawford," Bedelia sighed. Music was her favourite class.

"Don't worry, she will be alright soon," Ms Lass smiled. "And for now... what do you usually have on Thursday?"

"Art first, and then Maths after nap time," Alana said.

"Alright, art it is then," Ms Lass said. "Today, we are going to have a special art class. Do you know what day it is today?"

Will shrugged.

"It's Valentine's Day!" several people said.

"Exactly!" Ms Lass smiled. "And Valentine's Day means that you get to make valentines!"

"What are they?" Frederick asked.

"They are special cards, usually shaped like hearts."

Ms Lass set a box on the teacher's desk.

"Take one paper heart each from the box, and get the art utensils you need," she said. "Be creative, and don't forget to put the name of the person you are giving the valentine to on the card. Once you are done, put the valentine back to the box. I will give them away at the end of the class."

Will got up and went to get a paper heart. He never thought about Valentine's day at all, to be honest. And he had no idea about who his valentine's receiver will be.

Will chose a red card and some markers and went back to his desk. Hannibal and Bedelia were already working on their valentines. Will rolled a marker in his hands, thinking.

"Maybe I should make one for Hannibal," he thought. Well, maybe he actually should. Everyone was making valentines for their best friends. And Hannibal was his best friend, after all.

Will drew flowers and smiley faces on the paper heart, and signed it with "To Hannibal, from Will" on the back. Well, that was pretty much it.

The boy put his valentine into the box and returned to his seat. Waiting for the class to end, he watched Hannibal make his own card. He was very concentrated on his work, drawing and writing restlessly. Will wondered who was the card for, and what Hannibal was writing.

By the end of the class, everyone finished their valentines. Ms Lass started to pass them to kids. Will wondered if he will get one.

Sure enough, he did get a card. Two cards, actually. One of them was red, and the other was light pink with red edges.

Will decided to read the plain red card first. There were colourful stars on it, and a puppy. In the corner, it was signed with "To Will from Bev".

Will smiled. He turned to Beverly and gave her thumbs-up. She answered with the same from her desk.

Then, Will took the second valentine. There was a very beautiful baby deer drawn on it, with a flower crown on its head. Will had no doubts about who it is from.

The writing on the back told him that he was correct.

" _To my dearest friend Will,_

 _From Hannibal_ "

Will chuckled and raised his head. He noticed that Hannibal was looking at him, as if waiting for something.

"It's very nice, thank you," Will smiled at him brightly.

"I am happy that you like it," Hannibal smiled back, and... blushed slightly? Will turned his head a bit just to make sure. No, it wasn't his imagination this time. Hannibal was actually blushing. 

For some reason, Will felt a strong urge to laugh. Trying to fight it, he turned his attention to the cards that lied next to Hannibal.

"Look, you also got two!" Will noticed. "Would you like to read them?"

Hannibal nodded and took one. He looked at it for a while.

"Thank you, Bedelia," he said.

"No problems," Bedelia shrugged.

Hannibal put Bedelia's valentine away and started to read the second one. Will suddenly felt a little nervous. After all, his own card was more or less plain. But Hannibal seemed happy regardless.

"This card is beautiful, Will," he beamed at Will.

"Oh, come on," Will snorted a little.

"Everything you make is beautiful," Hannibal added.

Will laughed a little and felt a slight heat in his cheeks. Damn. Was he blushing, too?

Hannibal reached his hand out and put it over Will's, which was resting on the desk. He gently ran his thumb over the back of Will's hand. Will couldn't help but smile.

He heard Bedelia huff loudly.

"Have you noticed that there is another card just between you two?" she asked.

Will looked at the desk and noticed that there was indeed another valentine there. Hannibal flipped it over, read it, and then turned it to Will.

"To my best friends, Hannibal and Will. From Abigail," Will read.

The warm feeling that he felt when Hannibal hugged him several weeks ago was bubbling inside him again. Will felt that he, Hannibal and Abigail had a very special friendship. They were like a small family, really.

***

However, good things didn't end with that. As usual, a surprise was waiting for Will after nap time.

Instead of candy, though, he found a note under his pillow. It said: "Look inside the bedside table".

Will followed the instruction and found a box of chocolates inside. On the top of the box, there was another note. It contained only three letters, which were very familiar to everyone in the KBI.

"ATM".

This time, however, there was a tiny heart next to the message.

"Well, it's "ATM" again," Will sighed, turning to Beverly, Jimmy and Brian.

"Yeah. Like we know what it means," Jimmy shrugged.

Beverly studied the note carefully. Then, finally, she looked up, and her eyes were shining happily.

"I think I know! Maybe "ATM" means "I love you"! Otherwise, why would they add the heart in the end?"

"How? Is it like, "Ai Tlove Myou"?" Brian snorted.

"No. It's probably in another language. Not English," Beverly suggested.

"Awesome. Now, we just have to find out which one," Will said.

He opened the box, and sure enough, it was full of chocolates.

"Careful, Will. What if it's plasticine again?" Jimmy warned him.

Will decided to break one of the chocolates in half. It was just a regular sweet, made of chocolate, with creamy strawberry filling. Will put it in his mouth and hummed happily. The candy was very delicious.

"Oh, cool! Can I have one?" Brian asked.

After a short while of sharing and eating, the box was empty.

"Whoever it is, they must really love you if they give you such delicious chocolates," Beverly grinned.

"Wait a second, I'm confused. Do we ship Will with the candy giver, or with Hannibal?" Jimmy raised his eyebrow.

"I will go with both," Brian offered.

"I will go with Hannibal," Beverly said. "I mean, what the candy giver is Frederick, for example? Frederick is not cute. And Hannibal and Will, they are _very cute_ together."

"OK, OK, OK," Will laughed. He decided to change the topic. "Does anyone have more ideas about how to catch the person?"

After a careful discussion, the KBI decided to go for more direct action. After all, it has been several months, and they were all looking forward to finding the truth out.


	12. Searching and Plotting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone ^_^ Thank you very much for all the positive feedback :)  
> So, I decided that there will be only a few more chapters (because Will does have to find out eventually). The remaining chapters will be long and fluffy (but with plot, too).  
> In this chapter, expect a lot of investigation and murder family. I hope you like it ^_^

The new idea about how to catch the candy giver came to Will in a grocery store. He was bored, waiting in the checkout queue with his dad. To pass the time, Will was reading everything that came to his sight.

A sign on the wall attracted his attention. It had a picture of a video camera on it, followed with "This store is monitored by video security". Of course, Will had seen the sign a hundred times before, but today, it gave him some new thoughts.

"Why don't we have cameras like this in the kindergarten? We would catch the person in no time!" Will thought.

And then, a new idea formed in his head. They could set a camera near his bed! But where to get it?...

Then, Will recalled the time when Freddie was trying to find out who sliced her towel. She hid her camera in the bathroom... 

"Of course! I can borrow Freddie's camera!"

***

After discussing the new plan with the KBI, Will went to Freddie to borrow her camera.

"My camera? No way!" Freddie cut him off.

"Why?" Will wondered.

"What if you break it?" Freddie eyed him suspiciously. 

"I will be careful, I promise," Will kept persuading her. "Besides, it's not just for fun. I need it for an important task!"

"Really? Which task is it?"

Will thought about what to tell Freddie. He decided to just tell her a short summary, without going into details.

"Do you remember the time when someone ruined your towel?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"So. The person who did it, they did other things too. We are trying to find out who they are. Using the camera, we might catch them."

Freddie considered his words.

"Alright," she finally agreed. "But only for one day. And hide it well. I didn't catch anyone last time, remember?"

She gave Will the camera and showed him how to use it.

The very same day, the KBI created a trap. When there was no one in the bedroom, they quietly slid in. Some time was spent on deciding where to hide the camera. Finally, Beverly suggested hiding it under Will's bed. It's unlikely that anyone will peek under his bed, and it wasn't very hard to distinguish Bedelia's feet from Frederick's. 

Will turned the camera on and switched it to video mode. Then, he put it under his bed, and the children quietly left the bedroom.

***

After the nap time was over, Beverly, Jimmy and Brian came to sit on Will's bed. 

"Did we get anything?" Brian asked straight away.

"I don't know," Will shrugged.

He took the camera in his hands, and saw that it was turned off.

"Wait, why? I turned it on, I'm sure!" Will said, confused.

"Maybe the battery is low?" Jimmy suggested.

Will clicked on the button, and the camera screen glowed. The battery sign showed 58%.

"No, it's not. Maybe the candy giver turned it off?" Beverly suggested.

"Most likely," Will nodded. 

"But what if he doesn't know how to delete videos?" Brian said. "Check it."

Will clicked on the "Saved files" button. A photo of an ice cream popped up. It was the last photo the camera took, and there was no sign of the video.

"Why are they so impossible to catch?" Brian groaned.

"I think they are just very smart. And don't want to be caught," Will sighed.

"Yeah, but how do they know about the hidden camera?" Jimmy raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe they heard me talking to Freddie. Or simply saw the camera. It's visible if you look in the right direction," Will shrugged.

He took the camera and brought it back to Freddie.

"Got anything?" she asked.

"No," Will sighed.

"Well, that's what I thought," Freddie nodded.

Will returned to his bed.

He heard Beverly, Jimmy and Brian arguing over who might be the candy giver.

"I don't think it's Frederick. Why would he play a trick on himself?" Beverly said.

"Well, maybe he did it so no one would think it's him!" Jimmy disagreed. 

"What if it's a ghost? Or an invisible man?" Brian suggested. "I saw it yesterday on TV. A boy had an invisibility cloak, and he could sneak around the school without anyone seeing him..."

"We are not in the Harry Potter world, Brian," Beverly laughed.

Will fell onto the bed. Why was it so difficult? Two, only two people left. Frederick and Bedelia. And it still wasn't any easier. Honestly.

Will wondered if they will find the truth out in kindergarten. What if the investigation follows right into 1st Grade? 

"I think we shouldn't do it in such a direct way," Will finally suggested.

"Why not? Don't you want to find out who it is?" Jimmy looked at him in surprise.

"I really do. But I think, the more we try to catch them, the more they hide. Perhaps we should stick to following the clues."

"Hm... Not a bad idea. And what was the last clue we've gotten?" Brian asked.

"Beverly guessed what "ATM" means," Will reminded him.

"Alright, how about we sneak into the computer class someday? We can try to google "I love you" in different languages," Beverly offered.

"This can be difficult, but we can try," Jimmy nodded.

***

This was difficult indeed. Even sneaking into Jack's office was easier, because it was right next to the classroom. The computer class, however, was connected to the library. The library was on the other end of the school, and kindergartners weren't allowed to go there without a teacher.

Brian often went on about how much an invisibility cloak would help them.

"But if we are realistic, we can wait until Book Week," Beverly said.

"Book Week?" Will asked. "When is it?"

"In the beginning of April. I saw it on the noticeboard," Beverly answered. "During Book Week, we will be allowed to go to the library in groups during breaks. To read and borrow books, of course, but if we are careful, we can sneak to the computers."

And they decided on that.

***

February ended, and March was passing day by day. It was much warmer now, and the snow melted away. Will anticipated the arrival of April, which meant both the Book Week and his birthday.

One day, Will was helping his dad in his boat repair shop. The work went on as usual, and then, dad said:

"So, Will. It's your birthday soon. If you want to, we can spend that day by the lake, near a forest. We will fish, cook food on open fire and sleep in tents. What do you say to that?"

Will looked at his dad, amazed and excited. He wanted to go camping with his dad and stay the night in the woods, but his parents never let him go before.

"Really?" Will asked in disbelief.

"No, I'm lying to you and we will spend the whole day at home," dad snorted. "Of course, really. If you want too."

Will smiled brightly.

"Yes, of course I do! But can I also take a friend with us?"

"Well, if it's only one friend, then you can," dad said.

"Can I take Hannibal?"

"Hannibal?... Is it that boy you hang out with?" dad asked.

Will nodded.

"If his parents allow him to, then bring him along," dad finally agreed.

"Yaaaay!" Will shouted happily, jumping around the repair shop in delight.

"Hey, hey, calm down a little," dad chuckled. "You will trip over something if you don't."

***

In no time at all, it was Easter already. And Easter Sunday was an important day for Will. He, Hannibal and Abigail were participating in the annual egg hunt. It was held in the park where they so often played together.

On Sunday morning, Will waited for Hannibal to come to his house. Then, they went to take Abigail with them ("Don't forget to return home by lunch!" Mr Hobbs shouted after her) and walked to the green park.

Today, the park was especially beautiful. The trees were decorated with colourful ribbons and banners that said "Happy Easter". There were cardboard bunnies, chicken and Easter eggs all around.

By the time they arrived, most of the children were already in the park. Will noticed Beverly, Jimmy and Brian and waved to them.

Three children passed their group - two girls and a boy.

"Oh no," Abigail whispered when she saw them.

The boy turned his head and noticed Abigail.

"Oh, look who is here! It's the Hobbs girl!"

The two girls turned their heads to look at her.

"It is her!" one of the girls said.

"Please, not again, Nick," the other sighed.

Regardless, the boy walked up to Abigail.

"It's warm today, what do you think?" he asked.

Abigail said nothing.

"Yes, it is very warm! Maybe you should, you know, take your scarf off?" the boy squinted at her.

He reached out to Abigail's scarf, but she stepped back immediately.

"Get away from me, Nick!" she said.

"Why? Are you afraid that your new friends will see your horrible scar?" the boy continued in a mean voice.

"Stop that!" Hannibal stuck up for Abigail.

"Hey, have you seen what's on her neck?" the boy sneered. He tried to go for Abigail's scarf again, but Will stepped between her and the boy, protecting Abigail.

"I don't care what's on her neck. I won't stop being her friend just because of that," Will muttered in the boy's face.

"And, if I were you," Hannibal continued, "I would care about my own behaviour rather than somebody's neck."

"Pffft. Look at them, such gentlemen. Fine. Cassie, Marissa, let's get away from here," the boy said loudly.

The three children left.

"Who are they?" Will asked.

"Kids from the neighbourhood. Nick and Cassie are siblings. And the girl who doesn't like teasing me that much, that's Marissa," Abigail explained.

"Why do they treat you like that?" Hannibal asked.

"You know," Abigail sighed. "Some people are laughed at for their large ears, others are made fun of because of small eyes. And I am treated this way because I fell so clumsily that I got myself a scar."

"There is nothing more stupid than laughing at people because of their appearance," Hannibal answered. His eyes were narrow once again, and Will knew that he was very angry. He was angry himself, too. He wished that the whole thing happened in the kindergarten. Then, the candy giver would get his revenge! Probably cover the children's necks with permanent marker stripes.

"We can't just leave it like that," Will decided.

"I agree. We need to punish your attackers," Hannibal said to Abigail.

"But... how?" Abigail raised her eyebrow.

"I will explain."

After making sure they were out of earshot, Hannibal, Will and Abigail discussed their plan.

***

Cheerful music marked the beginning of the Easter hunt. Will, Hannibal and Abigail hurried up to the central lawn.

The instructor was already giving instructions.

"You have exactly half an hour for your hunt. As you already know, you are allowed to participate in groups up to four people. When the hunt is over, bring your eggs to me, so I can count how many your team's got. The team that gets the highest number gets a special prize. Also, you can take all eggs that you've found with you. Now, on my whistle, let the hunt begin!"

The whistle went off, and the children ran off in search of the eggs. Hannibal, Will and Abigail split up at first, too, and mixed with the other children. They knew the park like the back of their hand, and remembered the most secret hiding spots. Will, for one, knew about a hollow tree in the park. Sticking his hand inside it, he found three chocolate eggs.

After a while, Will, Hannibal and Abigail met up in the furthermost corner of the park. This was where a huge pile of last-year leaves lied.

Will and Hannibal put their eggs into Abigail's basket (which was the largest) and sat down by the pile. Will stuck his hand into the leaves. They were wet and cold, and reeked of mold. Making a face, Will grabbed a handful and put it into his basket. 

After a few more handfuls, he turned his head to watch Hannibal fill his own basket. Seeing Hannibal - the tidy, neat, well-cultured Hannibal - grabbing handfuls of rotten moist leaves made Will wonder if he will ever see anything so unusual ever again.

Then, there was the most difficult part of the plan, and the most important. They picked a tree that was low enough to climb. Then, Abigail chose the largest, brightest egg from her basket and set it under the tree. Hannibal and Will hanged their baskets on the lowest branches of the tree and climbed it. Hannibal first, and then Will.

The two of them settled on a branch that was reliable enough to hold them both. They lifted their baskets up and sat, still and ready.

Abigail stayed on the ground, looking out. Will saw her wave to him, and then, she hid behind a nearby bush.

"They are coming," Will whispered to Hannibal.

"Once they are under the tree, we tilt the baskets," Hannibal whispered back.

Will watched as the three children approached the tree.

"Look! An egg!" Nick yelled and went to get it.

At the same moment, wet, smelly leaves fell onto him. It looked like he didn't even understand what they were. Nick waved his hands in the air, trying to get the leaves off like they were insects.

"Ew! What the heck is that?!" he shouted. One of the girls - Cassie, Will recalled, - ran up to him, trying to help.

Then, Will and Hannibal tilted the baskets even more, causing a downpour of leaves.

"Aaargghhhh! Let's get out of here!" Cassie screamed.

The three children ran away, forgetting the egg completely.

When they disappeared, Will threw his basket onto the ground and began to climb down. He was almost all way down when suddenly, he stepped on a thin branch. It snapped under his weight, and Will traveled the rest of the way falling.

"Ouch," he said, rubbing his knee.

Hannibal and Abigail ran up to him.

"Are you alright?" Abigail asked, looking worried.

"I think yes..." Will moved his hand away from his knee and noticed dark spots on his jeans.

"Not really, as I can see," Hannibal sighed. He sat down by Will and helped him to roll up the jeans.

The knee was badly scratched and bleeding.

"Will, we need to take you to the nurse," Hannibal said.

"Hey, don't worry. I just need to stop the blood, that's all," Will argued.

"And the nurse will do just that," Hannibal dismissed his protests. 

"The time is almost up. I will take the eggs to the instructor," Abigail offered.

"Alright," Hannibal nodded.

Abigail took the baskets and went off.

"Come on, Will. I will help you," Hannibal smiled gently.

He reached a hand out to Will, and Will took it. Once he was on his feet, he made a cautious step and cringed from the pain in his knee.

"Hold onto me," Hannibal offered.

"Hey, won't I be heavy for you?" Will raised an eyebrow.

"Seeing you limping like this will be heavier," Hannibal said confidently.

Will sighed. Well, there was no point arguing with Hannibal. Will put his hands on Hannibal's shoulders. Hannibal, in his turn, wrapped one of his hands around his body, making sure Will won't fall.

This way, they half-walked, half-limped to the nurse, who was sitting on a chair near the instructor.

Will sat down and patiently waited for the nurse to check on his knee. She said that it was nothing serious (just as Will expected), and then cleaned the scratches and bandaged the knee. All this time, Hannibal was sitting by, holding Will's hand and looking like Will got at least four broken bones, not a scratched knee.

When the nurse left, Will turned to Hannibal.

"Don't worry so much! It's just scratches. They will heal in no time."

"It's my fault that you fell," Hannibal sighed.

Will looked at him with wide eyes.

"How is this your fault? This is only the fault of the bad branch. Now, if you _pushed_ me, then it would be your fault."

"I should have climbed down first, and make sure that you are safe," Hannibal said, looking down.

Will sighed.

"Come on, Hannibal... It's OK."

Will squeezed his hand to reassure him. Then, he rested his head on Hannibal's shoulder, and closed his eyes. He heard Hannibal sigh. Then, Hannibal moved his hand out of Will's grasp to wrap his arm around Will, pressing him closer. Will chuckled, and felt a familiar feeling in his chest. The bubbly, happy one. Will still haven't figured out what it was, and why it only appeared in specific situations. However, he wasn't bothered.

Will felt that Hannibal stuck his nose in his hair. He heard Hannibal inhale and couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Are you smelling me, Hannibal?"

"Difficult to avoid," Hannibal muttered into his curls. "Your hair smells very nice, Will. Like fresh leaves."

Will felt his cheeks heat up a little. Was this because the weather was warm? No. Probably not.

Then, all of sudden, he heard Abigail's voice.

"Umm... I don't want to interrupt anything, but we got the first place."

Will opened his eyes. Abigail was standing nearby, smiling and looking away.

"Hm, what's the special prize?" Will asked.

"Three large chocolate eggs, filled with caramel," Abigail said, pointing to her basket. On the top of all the eggs, there were three very large ones.

"That's great," Will heard Hannibal say.

"How is your knee, Will?" Abigail asked.

"It's alright, really," Will smiled. "Have you seen Nick, Cassie and Marissa?"

"I have," Abigail answered, taking a seat next to him. 

"How did it go?" Hannibal asked.

"Nick's and Cassie's hair is still full of wet leaves," Abigail snorted. "And they were so upset, they lost their baskets! Marissa was the only one who still had hers."

"Well, one got what one deserved," Hannibal smiled.

"That's right," Will nodded.

"You know, thank you for sticking up for me," Abigail said. She came up to Hannibal and Will and hugged them both.

Will smiled at her, hugging her with one of his arms. So did Hannibal. They just stayed there for a while, hugging and feeling happy. Will wished the three of them could stay like this forever, together. 

 


	13. The Book Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone :) Once again, thank you for all the positive feedback.  
> This chapter was supposed to be published 2 days ago, but I had problems with my wi fi. Sorry :(  
> So, this one is about Book Week. Expect fluff and investigation :) I hope you enjoy this chapter ^_^

April came, and with it, came the Book Week. Everyone was looking forward to it, and especially, Alana.

On the first day of Book Week, Hannibal noticed that Alana and Margot were wearing matching T-shirts. The print was the same on both: books and "Keep Calm and Read". Alana, however, had a dark blue T-shirt, and Margot had a red one. 

Even though Hannibal wasn't wearing a specific T-shirt (in fact, he never wore T-shirts at all), he was still happy about the event. He loved to read. His family had a library at home. Most books there were medical and cooking books, or classic literature. Several shelves, however, contained fairy tales (including a book of Lithuanian tales), myths and legends, and plenty of other interesting books. Hannibal often took one of those to his room and read them when he had time. He wished to share these books with Will, so they could read and discuss the stories together. However, Will usually preferred to read with Alana and Margot, and Hannibal didn't feel like offering his company.

"Hi, Hannibal!" he heard a familiar voice.

Hannibal turned around and saw Will. He was dressed as usual: a short-sleeved shirt and jeans. Will's brown curls were messy, and there was a smile on his face. Hannibal admitted to himself that Will looked just so adorable.

"Hello, Will," Hannibal smiled back. "How is your knee?"

"It's alright. I can walk now," Will shrugged sheepishly. "Also, today is the first day of Book Week! Remember?"

"Of course," Hannibal nodded.

"Alana said that today our class is going to the library! How cool is that?" Will continued cheerfully. "I've never been there before. Have you?"

"Not at the school library. However, I've been to my home library," Hannibal answered.

Will looked at him, surprised.

"You have a whole library at home?"

"Well, it's a family library," Hannibal explained.

"Wow, cool! A library!" Will sighed, amazed. "And we only have one bookshelf at home, so I usually read with Alana..."

"Why don't you read with me?" Hannibal thought.

But out loud, he only said:

"Well, I hope you find interesting books in the library today."

***

At breakfast, Beverly asked Will to sit with her, Brian and Jimmy.

"Why?" Will asked, sitting down next to them.

"We need to tell you something," Beverly whispered.

"What is it?" Will wondered, swallowing a spoonful of cereal.

"Today, right after breakfast, the whole class is going to the library," Brian began.

"Yeah, I know," Will nodded.

"This is our chance to look where the computers are!" Jimmy finished.

"Oh, that's cool," Will answered. 

"And then," Beverly continued, "before lunch, we are going to go back to the library, and sneak to the computers!"

"Hey! We might get caught!" Brian objected.

"Well, you and Jimmy can distract the librarian," Beverly shrugged, digging through her own cereal. 

"Hm. We will think about it," Jimmy said, exchanging looks with Brian. 

***

Once breakfast was over, Jack lined the class up outside, and they went to the library.

The library was large and cozy. There were plenty of bookshelves, more than Will has ever seen. And books... there were  _so many_  books! Maybe thousands of them!

There was a blue carpet on the floor, and the walls had pictures of books and fictional characters.

Will especially liked a wall decorated with Animalia characters.  There was plenty of beautiful art, and Will was so engaged in looking at it that he hasn't noticed that the rest of the class walked off.

Suddenly, there was a voice behind him.

"Do you like "Animalia"? Well, you can explore this decorated wall a little bit later."

Will turned around. There was a tall woman in front of him, dressed in a blouse and trousers. Her ginger hair fell to her shoulders.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Will."

"Well, Will, why don't you join your classmates at the table?"

Will nodded and rushed to the long table in the corner. He was relieved to see that Hannibal saved him a seat.

"Thank you," Will whispered, taking the seat.

"No worries. I enjoy sitting next to you," Hannibal whispered back.

Will smiled at him.

Meanwhile, the woman walked to the front of the table, so all the children could see her.

"Alright. My name is Miss Starling, and I work at the library. I am glad to see you here, and I hope you enjoy the Book Week."

She told them a little bit about history of books, and then explained how to navigate through the library and borrow books. 

Finally, they were allowed to go and choose any books they like. The only rule was, no more than two books at once.

Will stood up and walked to once of the shelves. It was full of non-fiction books. Will found a book about dogs and decided to take it.

Suddenly, he heard someone calling him from another row. It turned out to be Jimmy.

"What is it?" Will asked, walking up to him.

"Computers," Jimmy whispered.

Between two rows of shelves, there was a door which led to a large room. There was a lot of computers there, but at the moment, they were occupied by older students.

"Great," Will grinned.

He heard somebody talking from below. It was Brian, digging through the lowest level of the shelf.

"Have you found "Harry Potter"?" Brian said to Jimmy.

"Not yet," Jimmy answered. "But check _this_ out!"

He pulled out a book. There was a lady on the cover. She was standing at a door, holding a small bag in her hands.

" _Amelia Bedelia_ ," Brian read slowly.

"Get it? _Bedelia_ ," Jimmy said, widening his eyes and sticking his tongue out.

Brian snorted.

"And that's not all," Jimmy raised his finger. 

He opened the book, and started to describe the funniest moments, in his opinion.

"So, Bedelia had to put the lights out. And you know what she did? She hung the light bulbs outside! And when she had to draw the drapes - close them - she actually drew _a picture_ of them!"

Brian was choking from the laughter he was holding back.

"And," Jimmy smirked, turning a page, "when she had to dress the chicken, she put tiny clothes on it!"

Unable to hold back anymore, Brian broke into laughter. Jimmy couldn't help but follow.

"Um? What are you laughing about?" Beverly said, walking up to them.

Brian stopped laughing, and Jimmy hid the book behind his back.

"What is the book about?" Beverly raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Just a funny book," Jimmy smiled innocently.

"Also, we've found computers," Will added, pointing towards the computer class.

"That's great," Beverly nodded. "Now we know where to go. Also, Will? I think I've found a book for you."

She gave him a book with a baby deer on the cover. The title said "Bambi".

"Thank you, Beverly," Will smiled, taking the book.

***

A little while later, Will decided to go and look for Hannibal. He wondered what books he picked.

Will found Hannibal near the non-fiction shelves. He was looking through some scary-looking books. There were pictures of human insides, and skeletons on the covers. Will couldn't help but make a face.

"What are these books?" he asked, walking closer.

"They are anatomy books, Will," Hannibal answered.

"Ana... what?"

"Anatomy. It's a study of the human body, and how it works," Hannibal smiled slightly.

"They are a bit... creepy," Will drawled, taking one of the books. This one had a skull on it. It was cut in half, and Will could see the round eye and the brain. 

He quickly put the book back.

"In truth, they are not creepy. All these "creepy" things are inside our body, making sure it stays alive," Hannibal explained.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Will raised an eyebrow. "Do you read this kind of books?"

"Sometimes," Hannibal nodded. "Also, my dad tells me. He is a surgeon, so he knows a lot about anatomy."

"Oh," Will nodded. "I see."

He thought about what a difficult job it is, seeing human insides five days a week.

Then, Will noticed a book that Hannibal was holding under his arm. It wasn't a book about the human body, clearly. The cover was light blue, and there was a boy drawn in the corner.

"What is this book about?" Will asked, pointing at it.

"It's called "The Little Prince"," Hannibal answered, taking the book in his hands. "I've heard that it's very interesting."

"Hm... I've never heard about this book before," Will scratched his head. "Can we read it together?"

Hannibal gave him a happy, but slightly surprised look.

"Weren't you going to read with Alana?" he asked.

"Well... I think she won't mind mad. She will read with Margot," Will murmured.

Hannibal beamed at him.

"Then, of course we can, Will."

***

Will and Hannibal walked to a pile of beanbags that lied in the corner. They chose a large red beanbag and pulled it out together. It was big enough for them both, and very cozy. Hannibal and Will settled on the beanbag, curling next to each other.

At first, they took turns in quietly reading the book out loud. But then, when Will forgot that it was his turn, Hannibal kept reading, and Will listened quietly.

Hannibal felt very happy and at peace. Will actually offered him to read together! He didn't even have to ask Will himself!

Hannibal turned a page, and Will moved closer to him, perhaps to have a better look at the pictures. However, soon Hannibal felt that Will was snuggling up to him. Then, he smiled and wrapped an arm around Will, holding him close. Hannibal was overjoyed, and also felt a bubbly, happy feeling inside him. However, unlike Will, he knew what that feeling was.

For the moment, he even forgot that Jimmy and Brian were making fun of Bedelia.

***

Will and Hannibal sat on the beanbag, reading and hugging, and didn't even notice that the bell went off.

"I'm sorry, boys, but it's time for you to go," they heard.

Will raised his head and saw Miss Starling.

"Oh! Did the bell go off?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, about five minutes ago," the librarian nodded.

Will jumped up, nearly bumping his head with Hannibal's.

"Oops, sorry," he murmured to Hannibal.

"It's alright, Will," Hannibal smiled. "We can keep reading back at the classroom, if you want to."

Will paused for a moment.

"Um... actually, I have to go somewhere with Beverly, Brian and Jimmy. I promised them. Can we read when I come back?"

"Of course. One should always keep their promises," Hannibal nodded.

With that, they went to the library desk to borrow their books.

***

Ten minutes later, Will was already walking back to the library, but now together with the KBI.

On the way, the four of them talked about the plan. Will's mind, however, kept wandering somewhere else. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty about leaving Hannibal alone. Will was looking forward to returning back to class, even though he did want to find out all about "ATM".

***

Once the four of them entered the library, they had to split. Jimmy and Brian went to Miss Starling, who was sitting at her desk. Meanwhile, Will and Beverly hid behind one of the shelves.

"Excuse me, miss, can we borrow a Harry Potter book?" Will heard Brian say.

Will and Beverly crawled through the rows, until they finally reached the door to the computer class. Luckily, it was empty, and the door was open.

Will quickly sneaked into the classroom. Beverly followed him, closing the door behind her and locking it.

"That's it," Beverly whispered to Will. "Now, turn one of them on!"

Will walked to the nearest computer and clicked the "on" button. The screen glowed blue, and a window appeared on it.

"To log in, type in the password."

"A password? _What_ password?" Will hissed.

"I dunno," Beverly answered.

Will sighed deeply. He and Beverly tried several more computers, but all of them were locked.

For a moment, Will thought that all of this was for nothing. Now, they will have to leave.

However, Beverly called him over.

"Look what I've found!" she said, showing him a piece of paper.

Will saw a bunch of numbers and letters.

"Try typing them in. Maybe it is the password," Beverly suggested.

Will typed the symbols in, and luckily, the computer was finally unlocked.

Will opened the browser and typed: "I love you in different languages" in Google.

He clicked on the first link. It contained plenty of "I love you"s, for each country, in alphabetical order.

Will and Beverly started reading, country after country. However, they weren't very successful.

"Look, we are here for almost ten minutes. Brian and Jimmy are probably waiting for us," Beverly said when they've just reached the letter L.

"But we haven't found anything yet!" Will pointed out. "The closest we got is the Latvian one. "Es tevi mīlu", "ETM"."

"Then maybe it's a country close to Latvia. "ETM" and "ATM" are very close to each other," Beverly suggested.

Will shrugged and closed the browser window. He thought about the words again. "Es tevi mīlu". For some reason, Will felt like he's heard something similar before. But when?...

Beverly interrupted his train of thought.

"Come on, Will. We have to go," she whispered.

They turned the computer off and left the class. They were now at the library again. Beverly and Will walked out from the back door, and stood outside, waiting for Brian and Jimmy. For some reason, the boys still weren't there.

"Have you borrowed a book today?" Will asked Beverly.

"Yeah. It's called "The Secret Seven". It's about children who solved crimes. _Actual_ crimes!" Beverly said.

"Wow, sounds cool," Will smiled. 

"Would you like to have a look when we return to class?"

"Maybe after nap time? I already promised Hannibal that I will read with him when I come back," Will said sheepishly.

Beverly grinned. Will knew that grin all too well.

"Oh, right. Well, OK then," she said, a little bit smug.

Then, Beverly stepped closer to Will.

"You _do_ like him, do you?" she whispered into his ear.

"We are just friends," Will answered, as he always did.

"I am not making fun of you! I am just asking..."

Suddenly, Beverly snorted.

"You are blushing," she whispered.

"What?!" Will touched his cheek. Damn, it felt warm. "It's just hot outside."

"Yes, of course. It became hot when I asked you if you like Hannibal. Right?" Beverly looked at him, smirking slightly.

Will rolled his eyes. 

They didn't go further from that, however, because Brian and Jimmy suddenly appeared. Brian was holding a huge book in his hands, and Jimmy was carrying a smaller one.

"Look! It's "Harry Potter"!" Brian grinned brightly, showing off the book. "It has large pictures and all that. Awesome!"

"Are you sure you can read this huge book?" Beverly raised an eyebrow. "You just learned to read!"

"I can try," Brian shrugged. "Maybe I can find out more about invisible people..."

"And I have "Maya the Bee"," Jimmy said. "Also, have you found anything out?"

Will shook his head.

"We've only found an "ETM", in Latvian," Beverly shrugged.

"Well, "ETM" is close to "ATM". Which means _we_ are close to solving the riddle!" Brian decided.

The KBI went back to the classroom. On the way back, Will couldn't help but think about Beverly's question. Usually, when Beverly, Brian or Jimmy started saying something about him and Hannibal, Will ignored it or shook it off. But now...

Will recalled that he is always happy to see Hannibal, and really enjoys playing and talking with him. He remembered how much he missed Hannibal when he was in Lithuania. He remembered that strange, bubbly feeling that is always inside him when he and Hannibal are hugging.

"What if," Will suddenly thought as he was opening the door to class, "what if Beverly is right, and I _actually_ like Hannibal?"

However, once he stepped into the classroom, he pushed these thoughts away, to the back of his head. Will decided to think about all this later, and instead went to Hannibal, who was waiting for him at one of the desks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P. S. The next chapter might be delayed until July, because I'm going to a summer camp soon. Sorry in advance.  
> The chapter is going to be about Will and Hannibal camping! So, stay tuned :)


End file.
